There is no U in team. Unions are bad for student athletes

The Dartmouth College basketball team has made history. It didn't qualify for March Madness, but after a March 5 vote, the players are set to form the first union in college sports. While some people are heralding a new era for student athletes, my own experience in collegiate track and field leads me to believe that unionization will create far more losers than winners. 

On the surface, I was the ideal athlete for unionization. I walked on to the Boston College cross-country/track and field team in 2008, competing in the 5000-meter and 10,000-meter runs for the next four years. I didn’t have a scholarship; Boston College was the only school in the Atlantic Coast Conference that fielded a fully non-scholarship men’s track and field program.  

Unionization, as the argument goes, would have created a more professional environment, protecting athletes like me from exploitation. Even if I had received a scholarship, unions would have argued that I needed a defense from coaches and administrators who wanted to profit from my hard work.