Harvard will likely have to hold a new election to determine whether eligible students can form a union after the National Labor Relations Board ruled against the University’s appeal Tuesday.

Harvard had appealed a previous NLRB decision requiring the University to hold a new election, arguing that the outcome of the Nov. 2016 election—the initial results of which showed more students voting against unionization than in support of it—should stand. Since August, the federal NLRB—a panel of presidential appointees—has weighed the University’s arguments, deciding Tuesday morning to uphold the previous NLRB ruling that the election results were invalid.

Tuesday’s ruling means a new election could take place as soon as January 2018, former NLRB chairman William B. Gould IV said in an interview Tuesday. At stake is whether or not eligible graduate student research and teaching assistants and undergraduate teaching assistants at Harvard will collectively bargain with the University.

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If the NLRB strikes down the Columbia decision, it could stop student unionization at Harvard, according to Gould.

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For now, the Yale and Chicago challenges will likely not affect the timeline for Harvard’s unionization effort, Gould said.

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Gould said it is normal for only three federal NLRB members to rule on any case. He said the entire board rules on “major policy cases,” but since Harvard’s appeal did not challenge the Columbia ruling, it did not qualify.