McCombe said he concluded Voss was prejudged for several reasons. When McCombe asked for reports so he could compare Voss' discipline with that of other guards with similar records of infractions, he said he received documents with information about guards other than Voss blacked out. When McCombe asked Dowling about the missing information, his boss told him Associate Director for Labor Relations Carolyn R. Young '76 had blacked out the reports.

McCombe also said he was puzzled by the department's discipline of Voss for being on campus while off-duty in May 1991. McCombe said he believed guards were given staff identification cards because Harvard wants them to use University resources.

Dowling has denied the charges, saying Voss received a full hearing of his complaint.

Voss went public with his version of his firing last May. The guard also charged he was harassed about two dozen times by security supervisor Donald P. Behenna, and that Dowling condoned the harassment. Dowling denied the harassment charges and Behenna has not commented on them.

Voss said the department called a meeting a week after he made the charges public, during which Sinclair, Johnson and Dowling questioned the guard, who is out on disability, about his health. Voss said he considered the meeting harassment.

McCombe said he attended the same meeting. Sinclair said the meeting was simply called to discuss Voss' health.

McCombe also did not dispute reports that Voss, after returning to work this year, has missed work again. After spending two weeks on the "November" shift--a detail that includes frequent walking and running, Voss allegedly reinjured his back and spent more than a week in a body cast.

Rolando Diaz

Diaz, who is Hispanic, was fired in 1989 before his initial 6-month probationary period expired. He appealed the firing through his union and through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and lost.

McCombe represented Diaz in a hearing. Although he did not take issue with the decision to fire Diaz, he questioned why Diaz, who he said had troubles speaking English, had been hired in the first place.

"He did have a problem speaking English," McCombe said. "Maybe he should not have been hired as a security guard."

But McCombe also said he was troubled by the department's decision to assign to Diaz at the Business School, which many guards consider to be one of the toughest jobs in the unit.

Dowling, while saying he did not want to comment on the specifics of the case, said he was aware of the difficult nature of the Business School job. Dowling said he gave Diaz, as he does all guards, many chances to demonstrate their capability of doing their jobs properly.

Juan Figueroa

Figueroa, who is Hispanic, said just last month that he believed his firing from Harvard in April 1992 was discriminatory. The guard allegedly disobeyed a direct order to stay on his post. Richard H. Spicer, a local attorney, said Figueroa had hired him to help the former guard get his job back.