University of Maryland suspends tennis club over racist imagery

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 13 Oct, 23:32 · Archive

The University of Maryland suspended its club tennis team indefinitely after members distributed tournament materials featuring Ku Klux Klan imagery.

The University of Maryland has indefinitely suspended its club tennis team after members allegedly distributed tournament materials featuring racist imagery. The Maryland Club Tennis student organization emailed the materials to other university tennis clubs in the region ahead of a weekend fall tournament at the College Park campus. Howard University, a historically Black university in Washington, D.C., was among the recipients. Toni Rachal, president of Howard University's club tennis team, discovered the graphic in a shared Google document. The imagery showed Ku Klux Klan hoods with eye holes, replacing elements of the Crossland coat of arms featured on Maryland's official state flag.

The University of Maryland's Recreation and Wellness department discovered the incident on Saturday. The university expressed that it was 'horrified' and issued a 'sincere apology for the harm that this has caused'. The Maryland Club Tennis team apologised and forfeited its matches at the tournament. The university's director of Recreation and Wellness also issued an apology to the club presidents of all participating teams.

Although the incident may have directly involved only a few team members, the university suspended the entire club tennis team pending the outcome of the investigation. The University of Maryland Police Department and the university's Office of Student Conduct are investigating the matter.

How it is being reported

• College tennis scandal erupts as University of Maryland club suspended for sending racist imagery to rival teamsThe University of Maryland tennis club has been suspended by the school after sending racist imagery to rival teams before they hosted a fall tournament.Daily Mail Sport · 13 Oct, 23:11
• University of Maryland tennis club on suspension after members put KKK symbols in programsThe university suspended the entire team indefinitely, despite only a few members allegedly being involvedIndependent World · 13 Oct, 18:56

In this story: University of Maryland · Howard University · Maryland Club Tennis · College Park · Washington, D.C.

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