Do Deep Inelastic Scattering Data Favor a Light Gluino

A next--to--leading order QCD analysis of deep inelastic scattering data is performed allowing for contributions due to a light gluino. We obtain the values of $\alpha_s(M_Z^2) \pm \delta \alpha_s^{stat} = 0.108 \pm 0.002, 0.124 \pm 0.001, 0.145 \pm 0.009$ for QCD, SUSY QCD with a Majorana gluino and a Dirac gluino respectively. The value of $\alsm$ obtained in SUSY QCD with a Majorana gluino best agrees with the direct measurements of $\alpha_s(M_Z^2)$ at LEP.