Alumni reject exclusive club

Baltimore Alumni Chapter officials are searching for a site for their February wine-tasting after deciding not to use the city's L'Hirondelle Country Club because of the club's restrictive membership policy. The club allegedly excludes blacks and Jews. Baltimore chapter officials say they were not aware of any function being planned at the club, but UA member Dan Singer said a member of the chapter's executive board told him that the board was debating using the facility. The University Alumni Association asked the chapter to choose an alternate location for the spring event. Alumni Relations Director Doris Cochran-Fikes said that she was unaware of the planned event until President Sheldon Hackney's office contacted her office. Cochran-Fikes said that she called the Baltimore club president to advise the chapter not to use L'Hirondelle. Fikes said that her office did not contact country club officials and decided not to investigate the matter. Baltimore Alumni Club President Anne Marie Sieber said last night that she was unaware of any event planned at the club, adding that nothing is being planned that would violate University policy. The Alumni Assocation Handbook and University Harrassment Policy prohibit alumni-sponsored events to be held in an "intimidating environment." College senior Singer, who sponsored a UA proposal condemning the Baltimore Alumni Association, said that he was told by a member of the Alumni Executive Board that chapter members this summer hotly debated whether to use the club. "The Baltimore Executive Board was perfectly aware that the club discriminated against minorities in its membership policy and until the Office of Alummi Relations intervened, it was still a possible site for their February wine-tasting," Singer said. Singer said that the Executive Board member told him that several alumni chapters had held events in exclusive clubs with discriminatory policies in the past. But he said that the member said that alumni chapters were becoming more sensitive to the issue and that these clubs are not likely to be used in the future. Cochran-Fikes said that the University attempts to plan events where all alumni are welcome. "We ask that every site where events are held follow University affirmative action guidelines [which do not allow discrimination] against religion, race, gender or handicap," Cochran Fikes said last night. Minority members would have been allowed to attend the event at L'Hirondelle, Singer said.

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