Six years after adjuncts at Manhattan College voted to form a union, a regional office of the National Labor Relations Board this week certified the election. The final tally was 59 in favor and 46 opposed (the American Federation of Teachers-affiliated union says the margin was wider before a group of votes were challenged and discounted). Manhattan and a group of other Roman Catholic colleges with proposed adjunct unions have fought them, saying their religious affiliation puts them beyond the reach of the NLRB.

Regional board offices around the country have approved adjunct union bids and certified elections at religious institutions since a major 2014 NLRB decision concerning Pacific Lutheran University, however. In that case, the board said that non-tenure-track faculty members at Lutheran could unionize because they didn’t have specific, religious job functions. Faculty members in religious studies at Manhattan are excluded from the new collective bargaining unit based on that logic. Manhattan could choose to recognize the union or continue the legal appeals process. A college spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.