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.