A former Harvard security guard yesterday said supervisors mistreated him during his tenure at the University and fired him because he is Hispanic.
Rolando Daiz, who worked as a guard from January 25 to June 22, 1989, said Donald Behenna, security supervisors, often singled him out for verbal abuse because he is Hispanic.
Diaz also said Robert J. Dowling manager of operations for police and security, misled him about his career prospects and fired him because of his national origin.
Dowling and Behenna, who are white, said yesterday they were seeking legal counsel and refused to answer all questions.
Harvard Police Chief Paul E. Johnson and Vice President and General Counsel Daniel Steiner '54 could not be reached for comment on Daiz's case last night.
Diaz is the second guard this week to say he has encountered racial harassment in the security division. A Black guard said earlier this week that Dowling and Behenna harassed him between January and July of 1991.
Diaz a Cambridge resident who is a citizen of El Salvador, said Behenna often cursed at "Many time she spoke to me rudely--muchdifferent than white security guards," said Diaz."He spoke to me like I've never seen before in mylife." According to documents obtained by The Crimson,Diaz filed a grievance with the Service EmployeesInternational Union on June 26, 1989, four daysafter he was fired. Alleged Comment According to the documents, union officialsattempted to demonstrate discrimination by citinga comment allegedly made by Dowling during aconversation with Diaz's then-wife, Karen McReady. In an interview yesterday, McReady said she metwith Dowling about two weeks before herex-husband's dismissal. According to McReady.Dowling said he might try to find a University jobfor Diaz where he could "be with his own kind." Diaz also filed a complaint with theMassachusetts Commission Against Discrimination(MCAD) on February 1, 1990 according to MCADexecutive assistant Jane Brayton. The state agencydismissed the complaint for "lack of probablecause" in July 1990, Brayton said. Communication Problem In response to the complaint, UniversityAttorney Dianne M. Irving told MCAD in March 1990that Diaz was fired because he had problemsspeaking English. The Police Department's "decision to terminateMr. Diaz was based entirely on his inability todemonstrate that he was sufficiently proficient inEnglish to perform his job duties satisfactorily,"according to a copy of the response. Diaz said he was not informed of hiscommunication problem until less than a monthbefore he was fired. Diaz said, and departmentsources confirmed, that Dowling had eveninterviews him before he was hired. In the five months that Diaz was employed bythe University, he worked at a variety oflocations and was elevated from part-time tofulltime status. For more than a week, he wasassigned to the Business School, considered oneof the most difficult beats in the department. Diaz said Dowling did not tell him that hisEnglish was a problem until June 6, 1989, afterhis stint at the Business School. Diaz was firedon June 22, 1989. In his union grievance, Diaz charged that hisfiring constituted discrimination on the basis ofnational origin. Diaz also charged that he was notrepresented by an accredited union representativeat the meeting in which how was fired. Diaz's grievance was denied by police andsecurity division officials on two separateoccasions during 1990. The guard appealed bothrulings, but the second appeal could not be hearduntil January 1990 because he returned to ElSalvador in August 1989 to renew his visa. In a two-page response dated February 13, 1990.Harvard officials denied Diaz's second appeal,saying that Diaz "was unable to perform the dutiesof security guard satisfactorily because he wasnot sufficiently proficient in English" and thathis complaint was not timely. In addition, four written complaints aboutDiaz's job performance were presented against theguard's first in August 1989
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