Dartmouth basketball team votes to unionize - ABC News

[patphil]

8. Because colleges exist to provide an education to their students.

Sports are not part of the academic curriculum. They are completely independent from the academics, except for degrees in things like physical education, or sports medicine.
I can't imagine academic students needing a union.
Also, athletic scholarships are not generally given for academic purposes, at least not in colleges that want sports to be a major part of their college brand.
Granted there are some schools where that straddle the two, and attempt to maintain the student athlete concept, but I don't believe this is what we are referring to here.
The reality of the situation is that any college with a strong presence in college sports is giving scholarships to athletes for their athletic prowess only.
These are the ones where it's evident that the student athlete is really an athlete that is also registered as a student. It's an illusion that they are at the school for any other purpose than sports.
If these athletes want to form a union, I'm all for it.