Security Guards Stuck In Limbo

The body of John H. Skochlas was found in his Prescott Street home by Cambridge Police officers around 9:30 p.m. last October 14. He had been stabbed in the neck. Days later, the medical examiner's office ruled his death a suicide.

Skochlas, who was 49 at the time of his death, was an 11-year veteran of Harvard's private security guard unit. The guards are employed by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and work in dormitories and classroom buildings.

Friends said Skochlas, known affectionately as "Johnny," had been despondent in the weeks before his death. He had family problems, they said.

"His wife and his mother had cancer. And his wife was not too well," said a river House security guard.

But at work, Skochlas mostly talked about his future--or lack thereof. "Johnny was waiting for a buyout," his friend said.

That buyout-a retirement package for veteran guards still hasn't come from Harvard. And, in the eyes of many guards, Skochla's death is partly a symptom of decaying morale within their force.

And University officials agree. FAS' guard force-the last remnants of a guard system that once encompassed many Harvard schools--is undermanned, under-trained and beset by internal conflict.

These problems have caused negotiations for a new contract for the guard union to stall--there has been no significant progress since an autonomous guard union formed in 1996.

And it seems unlikely that the deadlock will be broken anytime soon. And that means aging guards in the same situation as Skochlas-a new guard has not been hired in nine years-remain pessimistic about their fate.

The Big Picture

The guard service was born during turbulent times for Harvard.

In the early 1970s, crime rates were high and arecent student takeover of University Hall madethe administration more uneasy.

Regular police patrols of University buildingshad become a necessity. In 1975, the Universityestablished a force of guards to augment itspolice force.

Although the University retained control ofguard operations and training, the money to paytheir wages came from the budgets of theindividual schools they served.

In 1985, the University employed 41 guards andthree guard supervisors. In 1987, there were 72guards and five supervisors. The unit reached itslargest size at more than 105 guards in 1992.

But then, in 1993 the guard force had its annushorribilis a year of internal divisions that stillhave not been patched up. As a result of thesedivisions, three schools Harvard Business School,Medical School and Law School, decided toout-source, hiring private companies to handletheir security less expensively.

A Distress Call

The trials and tribulations of 1993 actuallyhad its roots in 1991, when seven security guardsfiled suit with the Massachusetts CommissionAgainst Discrimination (MCAD) claiming a patternof racial and ethnic harassment by supervisors andfellow guards.

During this time, guards say, their departmentwas rife with discrimination, enmity betweenpolice officers and guards and poor supervision.

During the controversy surrounding theharassment claims, union leader and veteran guardStephen G. McCombe was one of the University'smore vocal antagonists. McCombe eventually filedhis own lawsuit charging the University treatedhim unfairly after he become a union spokesperson.

According to MCAD files, none of these caseswere ever concluded. However, later that yearHarvard fired Viatcheslav G. Abramian, a Russianimmigrant who had been one of the guards to file asuit with MCAD.

The University claimed this firing stemmed froma fight between Abramian and another guard andAbramian's filing of a false police report.However, Abramian sued, saying he had beenwrongfully terminated.

In July of 1997, a Middlesex Country jury foundHarvard liable for $2.5 million in the case.

The controversy over the harassment chargescreated friction within the guard unit.

In an interview with The Crimson in 1993,McCombe had accused then-Harvard University PoliceDepartment (HUPD) chief Paul E. Johnson and threeother administrators with a "pattern ofretaliation" against the guards.

In making his protest, several current guardsand one former guard allege, McCombe disclosedconfidential information about guards'disciplinary records.

On April 18, 1993, 25 guards-a fourth of theentire force-presented a signed petition to unionleaders demanding McCombe's ouster.

They charged McCombe with making the guards'case too public and leaking confidentialinformation.

"He told people something that is actually aconfidential thing, that no one, that neithermanagement nor union representation had the rightto tell," said Andrew J. Kluttz, a former guard.

Kluttz allegedly threatened McCombe last year,and was fired shortly afterward. He says that whenMcCombe spoke to Crimson reporter Joe Mathews '95in 1993, "he violated the union code."

McCombe says he continues to deny this charge:"That's just not true."

Finally, in August of 1993, theUniversity-represented by then Vice President andGeneral Counsel Margaret H. Marshall-released aninternal probe of the discrimination claims.

The report concluded, "Discrimination...doesnot exist within the Harvard University guardservice."

However, Marshall's investigation also saidthat "inadequate Guard Service managementresponse...[resulted] in the growth of anadversarial atmosphere of mutual mistrust."

The report also hinted at an uncertain futurefor the troubled guard corps: "If the GuardService is to be retained [instead of beingoutsourced], it should be assured of adequatefinancial resources to avoid the existingmanagement difficulties."

But the damage was done. The guard force nowhad a reputation for internal divisiveness.

New Problems, No Contract

The union's most recent troubles began whencontract negotiations between the University andseveral of its clerical unions heated up in thesummer of 1995.

Like the Harvard Union of Clerical andTechnical Workers, the security guards "local" wasa part of the Service Employees InternationalUnion (SEIU).

Federal law prohibits security guard unionsthat are part of a larger labor union from beingcertified to negotiate on their own.

Blocking the path of informal negotiations,according to McCombe, was the University's "cozy"relationship with the SEIU, which he said makes itdifficult for each "daughter" union underneath theSEIU umbrella to negotiate on its own.

Guards also feared for their wallets as anotherHarvard union, the custodial workers, had theirwages frozen for 20 months and vacation timedecreased in a 1996 contract with the University.

"We were wary, to say the least," a guard said.

So, on Nov. 27, 1996, with contractnegotiations progressing slowly, a majority ofguards voted to form a separate union. Harvardparking monitors and Fogg Art Museum guards alsojoined the new union.

Since McCombe had led the fight against theSEIU as union. representative, or "steward," hewas a natural choice to lead the new union.

"Somebody had to take the lead," McCombe says.

Although McCombe is accountable to the board,several guards say they are worried about hispower.

"For me, the problem is that this bodynegotiates with the University, and yet they haveno one watching over them," says Mike Cavanaugh, anine-year veteran in the guard force.

It is difficult to map out the route ofnegotiations since 1996. Neither McCombe norHarvard officials would comment on the number oftimes the sides have met or on the issues thathave been brought up.

Sources with knowledge of the negotiations saycontract talks had stagnated until the fall oflast year because Harvard was restructuring itsoffice of labor relations-and also because theguard union could not act coherently.

At last report, the negotiations had stalledagain. Although various proposals have beenpresented at the negotiations, none has takenhold.

Sources say the talks have stalled over how tobuy out the contract of older guards, and howlarge a salary guards ought to be paid whenoutsourcing their tasks is far cheaper.

Left Behind

As negotiations drag on and the guards' statusremains in limbo, HUPD has forged ahead withoutthem, moving to a community-policing policy thataims at an involvement in the student communitysimilar to that of the security guards now.

The man behind this policy change is Francis H."Bud" Riley, the chief of HUPD.

"When I got here in 1996, the guard force was aseparate department within the department," Rileysays.

And by all accounts, it was in disarray.

"When I looked at the history of it, I had seenthe disadvantages of the structure of the policeforce. The guards had individual supervisors, andthey were removed from the police officers," Rileysays.

"I viewed the majority of the problems thatwere coming to my attention as the result of alack of management structure," Riley says.

So he sought to streamline the department. Helaid off four guard supervisors and thesuperintendent of the force, placing daily guardoperations under the watch of HUPD sergeants.

But then, Riley says, he ran into a wall.

"Because of contract negotiations, I haven'tbeen able to finish what I started," he says.

Indeed, in the five years since the report,according to both administration officials and theguards themselves, the situation has not improved.

Although Marshall's 1993 report recommendedthat the University "ensure that adequate guardtraining is planned and is accomplished,"officials admit that has not happened so far.

Riley says he wants to train guards moreeffectively-by writing a standard guard manual foruse in all Harvard buildings, by teaching them theskills necessary for patrols.

"I'd like to get them 40 hours of training," inaddition to training on the job, Riley says.

The last guard, hired in 1990, received CPRcertification and the American Red Cross FirstResponder training-essentially an advancedfirst-aid course.

And in the summer of 1997, the Universityrequired all guards to receive what several called"sensitivity" training, aimed at helping theguards to function in a multicultural communitylike Harvard.

That, according to Cavanaugh, who now guardsLowell House, has been the extent of hisinstruction over the last nine years.

And he says that the University has notprovided guards with the opportunity to re-certifytheir CPR training. According to the Red Cross,adult CPR certification is not valid after oneyear.

"I haven't been re-certified in two years,"Cavanaugh says.

Communication problems remain, and at least oneHUPD source says these problems have resulted intension between the HUPD officers and the guards.

The two groups remained separated by differentradio frequencies. While HUPD operates on aprimary frequency of 471.0625 Megahertz, thesecurity guards are on a separate frequency.

"What if there's a problem or somebodysuspicious? We may know too late," says oneover-night river House guard.

Riley says that the same HUPD dispatchermonitors both police and guard frequencies and canpatch the two together when emergencies occur.

Attitude Problems

From day one of his tenure as chief, Rileysays, community policing was a way to improverelations between HUPD, guards and students.

The logical first step for community policingwas to involve the guards. who arguably know themost about the ways and means of campus life.

But there were problems. Riley says heencountered a communication breakdown that wasless easy to see, much less to fix.

"To be candid, the police officers didn'twanted to tainted by associating with the guards,"Riley says. "Candidly, there is a bit of elitismbuilt in there."

"The guards were very helpful in had insightsinto theoperations of Houses...insights that othersdidn't." And guards were enthusiastic, Riley says.

But Riley says guards balked at the schedulingcomplications involved in participation incommunity policing-the timing of training sessionand new postings.

Because no new guards have been hired since1990, the existing force is stretched thin, makingit hard to accommodate the new responsibilities.So the chief abandoned the idea.

"My community policing team leaders became sobogged down in trivialities that I needed to takethe guards out of it," Riley says.

So the security force that is arguably closestto the students is not a part of the University'sinitiative to make Harvard policing morestudent-centered.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figureout that guards in the Houses are already in thecommunity," Riley admits.

Fee For Service

Riley's streamlining of the guardadministration saved the University at least$200,000 per year, according to several guards andone administration official.

According to Riley, the HUPD's budget deficitfor the fiscal year 1996 was probably in excess of$375,000.

But Riley says the savings generated by theguard shake-up never reached HUPD due to thestructure of the University's administration.

The guard unit is budgeted as part of FAS. TheHUPD and its sworn officers are a division of theUniversity's General counsel's office, and arefunded separately.

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.CrimsonPOLICING ARCHITECT:Harvard UniversityPolice Chief Francis H. "Bud" Riley designed a newcommunity policing policy, but guards were leftout.CrimsonAlison E. HaskovecTHE NERVE CENTER:Dispatchers at theHarvard police department's Garden Streetheadquarters can patch police and guard radiofrequencies together, but guards say they areoften cut off by communication problems.7SECURITY

In the early 1970s, crime rates were high and arecent student takeover of University Hall madethe administration more uneasy.

Regular police patrols of University buildingshad become a necessity. In 1975, the Universityestablished a force of guards to augment itspolice force.

Although the University retained control ofguard operations and training, the money to paytheir wages came from the budgets of theindividual schools they served.

In 1985, the University employed 41 guards andthree guard supervisors. In 1987, there were 72guards and five supervisors. The unit reached itslargest size at more than 105 guards in 1992.

But then, in 1993 the guard force had its annushorribilis a year of internal divisions that stillhave not been patched up. As a result of thesedivisions, three schools Harvard Business School,Medical School and Law School, decided toout-source, hiring private companies to handletheir security less expensively.

A Distress Call

The trials and tribulations of 1993 actuallyhad its roots in 1991, when seven security guardsfiled suit with the Massachusetts CommissionAgainst Discrimination (MCAD) claiming a patternof racial and ethnic harassment by supervisors andfellow guards.

During this time, guards say, their departmentwas rife with discrimination, enmity betweenpolice officers and guards and poor supervision.

During the controversy surrounding theharassment claims, union leader and veteran guardStephen G. McCombe was one of the University'smore vocal antagonists. McCombe eventually filedhis own lawsuit charging the University treatedhim unfairly after he become a union spokesperson.

According to MCAD files, none of these caseswere ever concluded. However, later that yearHarvard fired Viatcheslav G. Abramian, a Russianimmigrant who had been one of the guards to file asuit with MCAD.

The University claimed this firing stemmed froma fight between Abramian and another guard andAbramian's filing of a false police report.However, Abramian sued, saying he had beenwrongfully terminated.

In July of 1997, a Middlesex Country jury foundHarvard liable for $2.5 million in the case.

The controversy over the harassment chargescreated friction within the guard unit.

In an interview with The Crimson in 1993,McCombe had accused then-Harvard University PoliceDepartment (HUPD) chief Paul E. Johnson and threeother administrators with a "pattern ofretaliation" against the guards.

In making his protest, several current guardsand one former guard allege, McCombe disclosedconfidential information about guards'disciplinary records.

On April 18, 1993, 25 guards-a fourth of theentire force-presented a signed petition to unionleaders demanding McCombe's ouster.

They charged McCombe with making the guards'case too public and leaking confidentialinformation.

"He told people something that is actually aconfidential thing, that no one, that neithermanagement nor union representation had the rightto tell," said Andrew J. Kluttz, a former guard.

Kluttz allegedly threatened McCombe last year,and was fired shortly afterward. He says that whenMcCombe spoke to Crimson reporter Joe Mathews '95in 1993, "he violated the union code."

McCombe says he continues to deny this charge:"That's just not true."

Finally, in August of 1993, theUniversity-represented by then Vice President andGeneral Counsel Margaret H. Marshall-released aninternal probe of the discrimination claims.

The report concluded, "Discrimination...doesnot exist within the Harvard University guardservice."

However, Marshall's investigation also saidthat "inadequate Guard Service managementresponse...[resulted] in the growth of anadversarial atmosphere of mutual mistrust."

The report also hinted at an uncertain futurefor the troubled guard corps: "If the GuardService is to be retained [instead of beingoutsourced], it should be assured of adequatefinancial resources to avoid the existingmanagement difficulties."

But the damage was done. The guard force nowhad a reputation for internal divisiveness.

New Problems, No Contract

The union's most recent troubles began whencontract negotiations between the University andseveral of its clerical unions heated up in thesummer of 1995.

Like the Harvard Union of Clerical andTechnical Workers, the security guards "local" wasa part of the Service Employees InternationalUnion (SEIU).

Federal law prohibits security guard unionsthat are part of a larger labor union from beingcertified to negotiate on their own.

Blocking the path of informal negotiations,according to McCombe, was the University's "cozy"relationship with the SEIU, which he said makes itdifficult for each "daughter" union underneath theSEIU umbrella to negotiate on its own.

Guards also feared for their wallets as anotherHarvard union, the custodial workers, had theirwages frozen for 20 months and vacation timedecreased in a 1996 contract with the University.

"We were wary, to say the least," a guard said.

So, on Nov. 27, 1996, with contractnegotiations progressing slowly, a majority ofguards voted to form a separate union. Harvardparking monitors and Fogg Art Museum guards alsojoined the new union.

Since McCombe had led the fight against theSEIU as union. representative, or "steward," hewas a natural choice to lead the new union.

"Somebody had to take the lead," McCombe says.

Although McCombe is accountable to the board,several guards say they are worried about hispower.

"For me, the problem is that this bodynegotiates with the University, and yet they haveno one watching over them," says Mike Cavanaugh, anine-year veteran in the guard force.

It is difficult to map out the route ofnegotiations since 1996. Neither McCombe norHarvard officials would comment on the number oftimes the sides have met or on the issues thathave been brought up.

Sources with knowledge of the negotiations saycontract talks had stagnated until the fall oflast year because Harvard was restructuring itsoffice of labor relations-and also because theguard union could not act coherently.

At last report, the negotiations had stalledagain. Although various proposals have beenpresented at the negotiations, none has takenhold.

Sources say the talks have stalled over how tobuy out the contract of older guards, and howlarge a salary guards ought to be paid whenoutsourcing their tasks is far cheaper.

Left Behind

As negotiations drag on and the guards' statusremains in limbo, HUPD has forged ahead withoutthem, moving to a community-policing policy thataims at an involvement in the student communitysimilar to that of the security guards now.

The man behind this policy change is Francis H."Bud" Riley, the chief of HUPD.

"When I got here in 1996, the guard force was aseparate department within the department," Rileysays.

And by all accounts, it was in disarray.

"When I looked at the history of it, I had seenthe disadvantages of the structure of the policeforce. The guards had individual supervisors, andthey were removed from the police officers," Rileysays.

"I viewed the majority of the problems thatwere coming to my attention as the result of alack of management structure," Riley says.

So he sought to streamline the department. Helaid off four guard supervisors and thesuperintendent of the force, placing daily guardoperations under the watch of HUPD sergeants.

But then, Riley says, he ran into a wall.

"Because of contract negotiations, I haven'tbeen able to finish what I started," he says.

Indeed, in the five years since the report,according to both administration officials and theguards themselves, the situation has not improved.

Although Marshall's 1993 report recommendedthat the University "ensure that adequate guardtraining is planned and is accomplished,"officials admit that has not happened so far.

Riley says he wants to train guards moreeffectively-by writing a standard guard manual foruse in all Harvard buildings, by teaching them theskills necessary for patrols.

"I'd like to get them 40 hours of training," inaddition to training on the job, Riley says.

The last guard, hired in 1990, received CPRcertification and the American Red Cross FirstResponder training-essentially an advancedfirst-aid course.

And in the summer of 1997, the Universityrequired all guards to receive what several called"sensitivity" training, aimed at helping theguards to function in a multicultural communitylike Harvard.

That, according to Cavanaugh, who now guardsLowell House, has been the extent of hisinstruction over the last nine years.

And he says that the University has notprovided guards with the opportunity to re-certifytheir CPR training. According to the Red Cross,adult CPR certification is not valid after oneyear.

"I haven't been re-certified in two years,"Cavanaugh says.

Communication problems remain, and at least oneHUPD source says these problems have resulted intension between the HUPD officers and the guards.

The two groups remained separated by differentradio frequencies. While HUPD operates on aprimary frequency of 471.0625 Megahertz, thesecurity guards are on a separate frequency.

"What if there's a problem or somebodysuspicious? We may know too late," says oneover-night river House guard.

Riley says that the same HUPD dispatchermonitors both police and guard frequencies and canpatch the two together when emergencies occur.

Attitude Problems

From day one of his tenure as chief, Rileysays, community policing was a way to improverelations between HUPD, guards and students.

The logical first step for community policingwas to involve the guards. who arguably know themost about the ways and means of campus life.

But there were problems. Riley says heencountered a communication breakdown that wasless easy to see, much less to fix.

"To be candid, the police officers didn'twanted to tainted by associating with the guards,"Riley says. "Candidly, there is a bit of elitismbuilt in there."

"The guards were very helpful in had insightsinto theoperations of Houses...insights that othersdidn't." And guards were enthusiastic, Riley says.

But Riley says guards balked at the schedulingcomplications involved in participation incommunity policing-the timing of training sessionand new postings.

Because no new guards have been hired since1990, the existing force is stretched thin, makingit hard to accommodate the new responsibilities.So the chief abandoned the idea.

"My community policing team leaders became sobogged down in trivialities that I needed to takethe guards out of it," Riley says.

So the security force that is arguably closestto the students is not a part of the University'sinitiative to make Harvard policing morestudent-centered.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figureout that guards in the Houses are already in thecommunity," Riley admits.

Fee For Service

Riley's streamlining of the guardadministration saved the University at least$200,000 per year, according to several guards andone administration official.

According to Riley, the HUPD's budget deficitfor the fiscal year 1996 was probably in excess of$375,000.

But Riley says the savings generated by theguard shake-up never reached HUPD due to thestructure of the University's administration.

The guard unit is budgeted as part of FAS. TheHUPD and its sworn officers are a division of theUniversity's General counsel's office, and arefunded separately.

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.CrimsonPOLICING ARCHITECT:Harvard UniversityPolice Chief Francis H. "Bud" Riley designed a newcommunity policing policy, but guards were leftout.CrimsonAlison E. HaskovecTHE NERVE CENTER:Dispatchers at theHarvard police department's Garden Streetheadquarters can patch police and guard radiofrequencies together, but guards say they areoften cut off by communication problems.7SECURITY