Update: 

The Iowa Supreme Court denied a request for rehearing in the Bubu Palo vs. Iowa Board of Regents case on August 3, stating it was “improvidently granted.”

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The Iowa Court of Appeals granted a Board of Regents petition for a rehearing in the Bubu Palo appeal on July 20 that was dismissed earlier this month, according to Iowa Supreme Court documents.

Bubu Palo’s attorney filed a response July 23. 

The case was dismissed July 9 by Story County District Court Judge Steven Oeth on the grounds that it was moot because Palo no longer attends Iowa State, and that any decision would “no longer matter” and be “merely academic.” 

“If a student can escape a final determination of their responsibility simply by leaving school, the integrity of the system is damaged,” the regents argued in their petition, claiming that the court’s decision that the case is moot is incorrect.

According to the petition, “[The ruling] essentially means students who are subject to discipline near the end of their academic terms are given a free pass.”

The regents are concerned students would have incentive to delay and/or appeal findings, “so they might graduate before their case is final. Or they could just drop out of school and enroll somewhere else.”

If Palo decided to attend a regent university in Iowa in the future, that school would be bound by the court’s decision, making a decision on the case still applicable and not moot, the petition claimed.

Palo’s attorney, Matthew Boles, countered that the case has no impact on Palo’s future as a student and that the court should uphold its decision.

“The potential impact on Palo’s standing as a potential ‘future student’ at a regent institution is so distant as to be beyond speculative,” he wrote in his response to the petition. 

Boles wrote that given the relationship between Iowa State and Palo, the issue “is not even a potentially recurring” one.

In May 2012, Palo, an ISU basketball player at the time, was charged with sexual assault, but the charge was later dismissed.

Palo has since filed a defamation suit against his accuser. The case will go to trial in September.

ISU President Steven Leath suspended Palo from the ISU basketball team in 2013 for violating the school’s Student Code of Conduct, a decision the Board of Regents upheld and the Iowa Supreme Court recently dismissed.