A Harvard security guard who championed discrimination claims made by his colleagues has been suspended without pay for 10 days for his behavior during a September 8 conversation with a Black Graduate School of Education student.

The guard, Stephen G. McCombe, received the suspension Tuesday following an official probe into the incident by Associate Dean for Medical School Faculty Affairs Margaret L. Dale, who was brought in as an outside investigator. McCombe allegedly raised his voice and was "hostile and belligerent" towards third-year doctoral candidate Richard Rakobane while the student sat by his car on Appian Way.

Herbert J. Vallier, the police department's assistant director for finance and administration, handed down the suspension. He said the matter was "sensitive" and declined to discuss any specifics.

"We had a very serious allegation that was raised," Vallier said. "I thought we had to be very careful, and we were."

There were no racial remarks or innuendoes in the conversation between Rakobane and McCombe, according to letters submitted to the University by both men. But Rakobane, a Black South African, felt that McCombe singled him out for harsh words because of his race.

Dale's confidential report on the incident, which was obtained by The Crimson, says that "Mr. McComber's behavior in this instance was not appropriate for a Harvard University security guard."

While stopping short of calling the incident racial harassment, Dale writes that she understood Rakobane's complaint.

"It is...quite possible that Mr. Rakobane's race caused Mr. McCombe to approach Mr. Rakobane with suspicion and hostility, despite the absence of provocation or cause," Dale's report says.

But one department source said a two-week suspension for such an incident was an extreme punishment for a guard like McCombe, an 11-year veteran with no history of disciplinary problems.

"You don't just give a person two weeks after11 years of service with a clean record," thesource said. "It just doesn't happen."

The report quotes two witnesses, both of whomwere also interviewed by The Crimson, as sayingthey heard McCombe speaking loudly at Rakobane butcould not understand what the guard was saying.

One witness, Education School student Lee-BengChua, said McCombe was yelling, but the other,University mail handler Wayne Battle, said in aninterview that the guard didn't yell but wasmerely engaged in a heated exchange.

"I heard a lot of things but I really can't saywhat they were now," Battle said.

After the incident, Rakobane's friend HelenSnively told Dale and repeated in an interviewWednesday night, "Richard was a combination ofpuzzled, insulted and astonished."

The witnesses' reports, however, differed onsuch basic facts as whether Rakobane was sittinginside or outside the car during the exchange andwhether McCombe approached the student from insideLarsen Hall or from his own parked car.

The report says that a third witness to theincident, United States Postal Service employeePaul Shannon, could not be interviewed. The reportsays he failed to reply to "repeated telephonecalls and a letter."