The Iowa Court of Appeals ruled against Iowa State on Wednesday in a case in which the university banned a former student from campus. The appeals court sent the case back to district court.

In 2000, the university banned former post-doctoral student Hadi Tabbara from campus. Tabbara was banned after accusations that he threatened faculty members. He appealed, saying he had been discriminated against.

A Story County District Court decision upheld the ban. The appeals court ruled 3-2 to reverse that decision.

“My understanding is that the court found that the issues that were raised in the original proceeding before the university did not encompass all the allegations of discriminatory conduct that Mr. Tabbara was raising in his subsequent lawsuit,” said Robert Wright Jr., Tabbara’s attorney.

According to the court of appeals opinion, the ISU commission that banned Tabbara from campus did not hear his allegations of discrimination dating back to 1986 when he first came to Iowa State.

Wright said no future court date has been set.

“I’m quite pleased and relieved because I believe this is the first time a judicial body took the time to adequately look at the issue accurately,” Tabbara said.

He said although the legal battle will continue in district court, he has no hard feelings against Iowa State, because he said he believes only a few individuals discriminated against him.

Tabbara said he has no plans to come on campus if the ban is lifted.

“It’s not because I want to go around and walk around campus, I have no business on campus,” he said. “I want to show the university they should not have done what they did. I want an apology.”

Bob Brammer, spokesman for the Iowa attorney general, said the university is considering two possible next steps — either appealing to the Iowa Supreme Court for further review or proceeding to trial in district court.

“The university remains steadfast in its position that faculty and administration acted appropriately toward Mr. Tabbara at all times, and that none of the decisions regarding Mr. Tabbara were motivated by discriminatory intent,” he said.

Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance and chairman of the commission that banned Tabbara from campus, said he thinks the commission’s original decision was correct at the time and has no new information on the case since then.

“There had been a number of incidents where he had had contact with people on campus that in essence felt threatened by his conduct,” he said.

Tabbara now lives in Tempe, Ariz., and is employed by Arizona State University.