The guard unit's position in the Universityhighlights its precarious position.
"If [FAS] notified me today that they didn'twant a contract for the guards...given theappropriate time, of course, they could [fire theguards]."
While Riley said that no such request has yetcome from FAS, one administration source told TheCrimson that FAS administrators have been quietlyasking other Harvard schools about the success ofoutsourcing.
David A. Zewinski '76, who as the associatedean for FAS's physical resource operations is incharge of directing and monitoring the guard unit,said he had not asked other schools about theiroutsourcing successes.
"We evaluate the guards that we have in ourbuilding and the performances in our building," hesaid.
Zewinski said that any decision to outsourceany group of employees would be made "with theblessing" of Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R.Knowles.
Knowles did not have any comment, citing theongoing union negotiations.
The 1993 Marshall report pegged the cost perhour for employing a guard full time at nearly$19. Today, sources say the figure is close to$26, nearly twice the cost to outsource a guard.
Although officials from Pinkerton Security andSSI declined to comment on the average cost perhour of their guards, a senior administrationofficial told the Crimson that the cost is closeto $13.
Thus, the University-or its schools-can employtwice the number of guards for the same price.
Riley said his experience with outsourcedemployees has been "a positive one."
"The guards at the [Medical School] are handledby an experienced [retired] police sergeant," hesaid.
A number of Harvard guards alleged abuses byoutsourced guards, including falling asleep on thejob, not following proper procedures andendangered the welfare of students.
"We have received some complaints," Riley says."But to be fair, we've also received complaintsabout [Harvard] guards.
Other Schools
And a solution to Harvard's security guarddilemma that substitutes more intensive communitypolicing for a guard service would not beuncommon.