Interviews with witness to the September 8incident suggest that Dale's was not the onlyinvestigation into the matter. Chua said Wednesdaynight that he was questioned by a Harvard policeofficial "a couple of weeks before" his interviewwith Dale.

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A Black security guard, interviewed this weekon condition of anonymity, said the suspension ofMcCombe has made him and other guards fearful oflosing their jobs.

"As a Black person, I feel they are retaliatingagainst Steve," the guard said. "The bottom lineis that they owe Steve for what he has said."

"I'm very scared for my job," he added. "If hegets two weeks for nothing, what do you think theyare going to do for me?"

The Black guard also expressed disbelief at thereason for the suspension. "If you know Steve, youknow he has a loud voice," he said.

Several guards interviewed by The Crimson notedthat there was no suspension handed out after asimilar incident in October. In that case, InatiNtshanga '95--who, like Rakobane, is a Black SouthAfrican--accused Science Center guard RaymondGonzalez of racial harassment.

Ntshanga said Gonzalez ordered him out of theScience Center and rudely interrupted his sessionon the computer network. Police Chief Paul E.Johnson said at the time that Gonzalez hadviolated department procedure, but he was notsuspended.

McCombe's suspension came as a shock to manystudents who know him as an unfailingly friendlyguard.

"I've known him for about a year now," saidGregory J. Davis '95, a Mather House resident, whois Black. "A number of students chat withhim--he's very gregarious. I've seen him deal withall kinds of students--men and women, Black andwhite... and I've never witnessed any unfair orhostile remarks in my presence."

Friends describe Rakobane as similarly friendlyand talkative. Still, he was reluctant to talk toDale, until he got an attorney.

Dale's report notes that Rakobane twicecanceled appointments to be interviewed inNovember. He was finally questioned on December21, more than a month after McCombe's interview onNovember 11.

Snively, a friend of the student's who wasinterviewed by Dale, said Rakobane's experience asa Black South African has made him sensitive toracial slights.

"I can see how there could have been somemicrosecond of behavior from Richard that set thisguy [McCombe] off," Snively said. "But I don'tmean to say by that that Richard's behavior was inany way wrong. I'm suggesting that this was one ofthese misunderstandings we often see.