Question

ISSUES IN DIVERSITY - CONFLICT AND NEGOTIATION SWIMMING IN CONFLICT

   What do African American and Hispanic summer camp children have in common with children from Huntingdon Valley, PA, on a warm summer day? They all want to swim! Rather than swim, however, the sixty-five predominately black and Hispanic campers from Creative Steps day camp found themselves in the center of a huge controversy amid allegations of racism and discrimination.

   Creative Steps, a Northeast Philadelphia day camp, paid The Valley Club, a predominantly white suburban private club, a $1,950 membership fee in order for its campers to swim in the club pool each Monday afternoon. Surprisingly after the camp’s first visit, the club refunded the camp’s membership fee without explanation. Several of Creative Step’s campers reported that they heard several club members making racial remarks and at least one person complain that the children did not belong there. According to the camp’s attorney, “The kids were humiliated.”

   John Duesler, The Valley Club’s president, insisted that it wasn’t race that precipitated the refund of the camp’s swim fee, rather it was safety. When The Valley Club initially contracted with the camp, it had not considered that the club might be short on lifeguards and wouldn’t be able to handle additional swimmers—an important issue given that many of the campers could not swim. Duesler added that “...the club’s board had not properly thought through the demands of accommodating them [the campers].”

   The controversy surrounding this conflict gathered steam as the NAACP filed a formal complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, the U.S. Justice Department began investigations into the club’s conduct, and the public began to weigh in. Creative Steps declined The Valley Club’s re-invitation to the club. Last reported, the camp was in negotiations with a local college for their children to swim there.

EXPLAIN HOW ARE ETHICAL DECISIONS (HR theory) ARE SEEN IN THIS CASE

Answer 1

We can distinctly see that the reason provided by the Valley club for refunding the fees is not satisfactory. The number of children coming for swimming and that most of them are not skilled swimmers must have been discussed first. Later the fees must have been finalized. Also, it is the Club's duty to arrange the proportional number of lifeguards to ensure the safety of children, rather that discontinuing the agreement.

It was the Valley Club's duty to ensure there is no racial discrimination and that everyone should be treated equally. In such a case, as stated above, the Valley Club has gone against the law and has conveyed wrong message to the children who regularly visit and the campers about racial discrimination. Hence, decision and action of Valley Club was completely unethical.