MURFREESBORO (AP) — A Tennessee panel has voted against letting Middle Tennessee State University strip the name of a Confederate general from one of its buildings.

According to The Tennessean , the Tennessee Historical Commission on Friday denied the request to rename the ROTC building dedicated to Nathan Bedford Forrest.

MTSU spokesman Jimmy Hart said the commission denied the university's request in a 15-7 vote, failing to receive the two-thirds vote required by state law.

University President Sidney McPhee recommended the change in 2016 under a task force's recommendation that was formed in 2015 after the Charleston, South Carolina deadly mass shooting of a black church.

The university could appeal the decision in the courts.