An ISU graduate and employee is fighting for his right to set foot on campus soil.

Hadi Tabbara, post-doctoral research assistant for the agricultural and biosystems engineering department, has been banned from the ISU campus after several complaints from ISU faculty and staff members.

Faculty and staff members from the departments of Agronomy and Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering have alleged that Tabbara has threatened them because of conflicts at work.

Paul Tanaka, director of University Legal Services, said the Oct. 19 decision to ban Tabbara from campus came after several faculty member expressed concern.

“The most recent action was taken only after a series of incidents,” he said. “I’m not going to discuss those, but a number of people expressed concerns about safety.”

While Tabbara, who is from Lebanon, is aware of the allegations against him, he said he does not know what the basis for them is or any specific individuals that made them.

“All I want is to talk with the people who are afraid of me and I want to say, ‘What have I said? What have I done?'” he said. “It has all been alleged. That is not what the spirit of American law is.”

Tabbara said his problems began when he returned to the university after being gone for almost nine years. He said he first came to Iowa State to pursue his doctorate in soil chemistry in 1986 but left because of problems with Ali Tabatabai, professor of agronomy and one of the professors in charge of the graduate students.

After spending nine years in Canada and at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., Tabbara said the ISU agronomy department invited him back to continue his degree and work.

It was a trip Tabbara said he was happy to make.

“I kissed the ground when I came into Iowa,” he said.

Tabbara said he found out a few days after his arrival in 1996 that not everyone was happy he had returned, particularly Tabatabai.

“I was told if ISU readmits me, Dr. Tabatabai will have concerns for his safety and that of his family,” he said. “After that I realized, ‘I’m finished. Iowa State brought me back to finish me.'”

Tabbara said he began working as a visiting scientist, or post-graduate student, for the agronomy department, but he was not allowed into its buildings or facilities because of Tabatabai’s allegations.

“This is what happened to me in the ’80s,” he said, “and I vowed to the university I will not allow this to happen again.”

While Tabatabai said he remembers working with Tabbara in the 1980s, he added that he was not aware of any recent problems.

“I know nothing about it,” Tabatabai said. “I have not seen him for years.”

After working in several research positions, Tabbara said he went to former Dean of Agriculture David Topel in October 1998 to discuss his situation.

“Dr. Topel said I deserved an apology from Iowa State,” he said. He said Topel allowed him to continue his pursuit of a doctorate, this time in the agricultural and biosystems engineering department instead of soil engineering, in which he has a master’s degree. Topel declined to comment.

Over the next year Tabbara said he continued to work toward an interdisciplinary degree in water systems engineering but was moved throughout the department, eventually working with Rameshwar Kanwar, professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering.

Tabbara said he continued passing the requirements for his doctorate during the summer of 1999, but he was told by Kanwar in October 1999 that he could not afford to keep Tabbara in the laboratory. Tabbara said he was the only graduate assistant in the lab asked to leave after Kanwar had hired two new graduate students to work there.

“He said, ‘If you want to find a job, you have to find someone to hire you for free,'” Tabbara said of Kanwar, who was not available for comment.

In addition to the loss of his lab job, Tabbara said he also received three visits from the Department of Public Safety concerning alleged threats he had made to other ISU faculty and staff members.

“They told me several people in the department felt threatened, especially my supervisor, Ramesh Kanwar,” he said. “All these allegations of violence have destroyed my image.”

Tabbara said the most recent visit from DPS officers was to notify him that he was prohibited from campus grounds.

“This is just to scare me, to put fear in my life and the lives of my family,” he said. “I still feel that Iowa State is the best university in the world, but they’ve never allowed me to be my best.”

While Tabbara said he filed a case Nov. 8 with the Iowa branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, Tanaka said he thinks it is unwarranted.

“No actions have been taken on any discriminatory basis,” he said. “This is not an isolated incident, and we think we’ve been very careful about what we’ve done.”

Warren Madden, vice president for Business and Finance, handles appeals from ISU faculty and staff and also said Tabbara was treated fairly.

“All of the issues around him are personnel issues. It’s not something we would comment on under our policies,” he said.

But Tabbara said he will continue to fight the university’s allegations against him.

“All I’m asking Iowa State to do is cease their harassment,” he said. “I got married last week, and instead of having the opportunity to go kiss my wife under the Campanile, I can’t.”