McCombe, however, said he believed the suspension, which came two months after the Science Center incident, was retaliation for the letter to the chief. He also said Henaghan did not sign his report of the Science Center incident as is customary.

McCombe said the guard hired handwriting analysts Carol and Paul Hennessey to analyze the report for authenticity. But when McCombe and the guard tried to get the original report, department officials refused to turn it over, according to the steward.

And last month, the guard was fired once again, after allegedly assaulting another guard. He is now appealing that decision, with McCombe as his union representative.

By all accounts, a physical confrontation did occur between the Russian guard and another guard. McCombe said he does not know who started the incident, citing a police investigation of the confrontation that was inconclusive.

But he said the Russian guard should have been able to face the other guard involved in the assault during the hearing in which he was disciplined.

Dowling refused to comment at all on the case.

Attempts to Alert

McCombe said he tried to alert University officials to the alleged problems in the department as early as 1990, but said he was not satisfied by the response.

In that year, McCombe and former guard Robert Travers, who was a union steward, wrote a letter to former General Counsel Daniel Steiner '54 asking for a meeting to discuss alleged discrimination in the unit. McCombe's letter said attempts to rectify the situation with Dowling, Johnson and Sinclair had been unsuccessful.

Steiner wrote back a month later, indicating he would not meet with the guards and directing them to solve their problem with these same department officials.

"We talked to people in the University, and we wrote the letter expecting a meeting at least," McCombe said. "When we received the letter [from Steiner], we were kind of shocked."

McCombe said he repeatedly urged Young and Patrick to perform a thorough investigation of the charges, but such an investigation never materialized. He said he is hopeful, but not optimistic, that the new investigation being conducted by Marshall and Ring will solve the alleged problem.

McCombe says he took these cases because it is his responsibility as a union steward. But Dowling says McCombe's close association with so many cases is suspicious. Dowling says McCombe has manipulated and coerced these guards, and is carrying out a personal vendetta against him.

Department sources say McCombe and Dowling were friendly before the guard became a union steward. And McCombe says Dowling used to invite him to his home and in fact recommended him for the job at Harvard.

Dowling says he never recommended McCombe for the job, and he would not comment about their relationship. He acknowledged working with McCombe in two previous jobs before they came to Harvard.