Uche Nwaneri is not giving up his hopes of returning to Purdue University — and its football team — for the fall semester.

On Friday morning, Nwaneri and his legal representation filed suit in Tippecanoe County Court, seeking no damages, but rather a reversal of the one-semester suspension levied by the Dean of Students office following a July 14 altercation in which former teammate Ryan Noblet sustained a fractured jaw.

Nwaneri — a fourth-year law and society major and a junior on the football team — initially appealed the suspension, but the ban was upheld by an eight-member campus appeals committee, which included both Purdue students and administrators, late Wednesday night.

According to the report filed, Nwaneri called Noblet the "aggressor" in the scuffle that occurred in the Mollenkopf Athletic Center just prior to voluntary summer workouts for some of the team's offensive and defensive linemen.

In the report, it is stated that the 6-foot-3, 313-pound Nwaneri was responding to the 6-6, 291-pound Noblet's physical advances when he threw the punch that fractured Noblet's jaw. The report states, per Nwaneri, that Noblet had approached him "cursing and shoved him."

The altercation occurred after the two linemen had previously exchanged words while stretching prior to the workout with other players, with the argument apparently stemming from Nwaneri questioning Noblet's effort.

Following the scuffle, according to the report, Pamela Noblet — Ryan's mother — of Speedway, Ind., called Purdue University Police, who promptly launched an investigation. The following day, it is reported, Pamela Noblet filed a complaint with the Dean of Students office, "demanding Nwaneri be suspended from the University."

The report alleges that executive associate dean of student Dr. Stephen Akers relied primarily on police reports in handing down that very punishment Aug. 2.

The following is a direct excerpt from the report:

"Akers found Nwaneri 'guilty of battering Ryan Noblet' for violating a university regulation prohibiting 'Physical abuse of any person or conduct which threatens or endanger(s) the health or safety of any other person whether or not such conduct occurs on University property.'"

The Mollenkopf Athletic Center does sit on University property.

Noblet, a third-year sophomore who had battled injuries his entire career, drew no punishment from the Dean of Students, but has since transferred to Arkansas as a walk-on football player.

At Nwaneri's appeals hearing, assistant football coach Bill Legg — Purdue's offensive line coach — testified that Noblet, on five occasions since the fall of 2003, had provoked fights with teammates during practice. It is said in the complaint filed last week that Noblet's history was never mentioned in police reports.

Freshman Derek Benson testified as the lone eye-witness to the entire ordeal, corroborating Nwaneri's account of the scuffle: "… that Noblet was the aggressor who first made physical contact and ignored Nwaneri's requests to leave (practice), and finally lunged at Nwaneri just before the blow was struck."

Though a true freshman who wouldn't officially start school until the fall, Benson spent most of the summer in West Lafayette.

The report also alleges that Nwaneri's case was handled with an "assumption of his guilt" from the very beginning and is alleged to have been sparked solely by Pamela Noblet's involvement. According to the report, Mrs. Noblet attended Nwaneri's appeals hearing last week, "greeting Dean Akers and Chairperson (Catherine J.) Sleeth before the Committee convened, and waiting in the hallway outside the hearing room with witnesses."

Ryan Noblet did not testify at the appeals hearing, since he was in Arkansas. Following the incident, the report claims, Noblet himself was interviewed by police from his home and by phone, while Nwaneri was questioned at the police station, with alleged intimations of potential jail time being thrown around.

Nwaneri has maintained his innocence and told the appeals committee that, "Noblet's injury was an accident which he never intended."

An initial victory has been won for Nwaneri, as Tippecanoe Superior Court Judge Don Johnson has granted a hearing, set for 9 a.m. Tuesday morning. Nwaneri is seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent Purdue and the Dean of Students from enforcing the ban until a trial judges its merits.

Nwaneri has issued the following statement:

"I did not want to go to a Court of law to overturn Dean Akers' suspension, but he has left me no choice. It is especially hard for me because I love Purdue, and I respect and admire my professors and coaches who are giving me a first-class education — in the classroom and on the football field.

"But when it comes to making a decision on personal conduct, I'd rather take my chances with the first 10 names in the Lafayette telephone book than the Purdue administrators."