The wrong message was sent when a company with a poor track record on diversity and racial insensitivity was recently rewarded by the city’s top business leaders.

Richard A. Hayne, co-founder, chairman and president of Urban Outfitters, Inc. was presented with the prestigious Edward Powell Award during the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce’s mayoral luncheon on Feb. 6.

The award is presented every four years to the Philadelphia business leader recognized for economic prosperity of the city.

William P. Hankwosky, chairman president and CEO of Liberty Property Trust, said Hayne was chosen from a pool of more than 100 nominees.

Hankwosky led the three-person committee, appointed by Mayor Michael Nutter, whose members solicited the nomination and recommended the winner.

Urban Outfitters, an international retail chain that include Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain and BHLDN brand, is one of the city’s most popular and successful businesses.

But some African-American community, civil rights and business leaders are rightfully questioning why the co-founder won such a prestigious award when the company has been frequently criticized for lacking diversity.

, Patricia Coulter, president and CEO of the Urban League of Philadelphia, said women’s groups have criticized Urban Outfitters for having an all-white male board.

The company’s response to critics has been: “We don’t have a diversity problem.” said Coulter. “And that seems to be true — they are happy to remain an all white boys’ club.”

But perhaps if the company had a diverse board it would not have made some of the poor decisions they have made in the past such as carrying the Ghettopoly, a board game that drew on negative stereotypes of Blacks, or selling gun-shaped Christmas tree ornaments and “Stop Snitching” T-shirts

Bilal Quayyum, executive director of the Father’s Day Rally Committee, which protested against Urban Outfitters for carrying offensive material, said his main concern is what the organization is doing now to be inclusive in hiring and awarding contracts.

Coulter said the local Urban League has been unsuccessful in engaging Urban Outfitters executives around the issue of diversity.

“We’ve been trying to approach them on a level to say, ‘let’s talk about this’ and we haven’t been able to get in the door,” said Coulter.

When the city’s business leaders presented a prestigious award to the co-founder of Urban Outfitters it sends the message that diversity is not that important.