Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!rutgers!bellcore-2!bellcore!dduck!duncan
From: duncan@dduck.ctt.bellcore.com (Scott Duncan)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: IBM pulls out of golf tourney - Hurrah!
Message-ID: <25805@bellcore.bellcore.com>
Date: 27 Jul 90 18:12:01 GMT
References: <1060@ashton.UUCP> <25724@bellcore.bellcore.com> <1699@fallst.UUCP>
Sender: news@bellcore.bellcore.com
Reply-To: duncan@ctt.bellcore.com (Scott Duncan)
Organization: Bellcore, Piscataway, NJ
Lines: 33

In article <1699@fallst.UUCP> tkevans@fallst.UUCP (Tim Evans) writes:
>All well and good, but the question no one has asked here is
>how the PGA managed not to think of these potential problems
>in booking the tournament into this club.

>Why then is the PGA unable to look ahead, particularly since
>it does have at least some influential black members of its own?

While the PGA needs to answer this themselves, it seems clear that this was
simply not a priority of theirs in scheduling such things.  It would seem
that it never nothered any sponsors before enough to do anything like what
IBm (and Xerox and Delta and ...) have done (and they have done different
things but all mnaking the point that they'd prefer less or no association
with the next PGA).

By the way, the PGA claims they WILL start examining such policies in the
future, though I have now heard that several of the next PGAs are at clubs
where there are no black members.  (Again, the policy may not explicitly
state this, but the practice is that no black members exist, i.e., are in--
vited to join or approved for membership.)

Again, the (somewhat) relevance here is the power that modern firms have
in their influence by making a strictly personal decision without any sort
of expensive campaign or resource devotion to the effort.  They just chose
not to be a part of the event, said why, and lots of people got the point.

Once could also ask why this has never happened in the past as it is clear
clubs without black members have probably been used in the past.

Speaking only for myself, of course, I am...
Scott P. Duncan (duncan@ctt.bellcore.com OR ...!bellcore!ctt!duncan)
                (Bellcore, 444 Hoes Lane  RRC 1H-210, Piscataway, NJ  08854)
                (908-699-3910 (w)   609-737-2945 (h))