In a possible signal that a former Harvard cook's drawn-out battle to win back his job is running out of steam, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) this summer dismissed the cook's complaint of on-the-job harassment and racial discrimination.

MCAD spokesperson Jane Brayton said last week the commission had "found there was no discrimination" against former Harvard Union cook and labor union shop steward Darryl Hicks. Citing a "lack of probable cause," Brayton said MCAD closed the Hicks case July 30.

Hicks was fired from his post last April by Dining Services Director Michael P. Berry. Berry cited Hick's lengthy disciplinary history, spotty attendance record and poor work performance as prompting the termination.

But Hicks, who is Black, suggested instead that he was fired for filing the MCAD complaint several months earlier and for arguing grievances on behalf of fellow employees, in his role as a shop steward.

The former cook waged a public fight against his onetime employer, accusing his superiors of racist behavior and winning the support of several fellow shop stewards and two student groups, the Black Students Association and the Harvard-Radcliffe Labor Alliance. Late last year, the groups submitted a petition to Harvard administrators demanding that Hicks be reinstated.

But the publicity and support Hicks received appeared to do little to sway Harvard's resolve. Meanwhile, the former cook's own labor union refused to take his firing to arbitration, prompting Hicks to file a com-plaint against the group with the National Labor Relations Board. That complaint was also rejected over the summer, though Hicks says he has appealed the decision.

Hicks said last week that he was surprised by MCAD's decision, and had lodged an appeal in that case. He said he has retained an attorney to file a civil suit against the University, and to fight Harvard's attempt to cut off his unemployment benefits. The attorney, Dwight Hutchinson, did not return amessage left with his office Friday afternoon.

For his part, Berry said the MCAD decision didnot surprise him. The Dining Services directorsaid the University is prepared to "play [thecase] out until the end."

"We're confident that in each case where aneutral arbiter looks at it, they'll find that wehad every right to do what we did," Berry said