University of Maryland club tennis team suspended over racist imagery sent to other schools

Image of state flag incorporating KKK hoods was sent to other schools participating in regional tennis tournament

The University of Maryland (UMD) has indefinitely suspended its club tennis team after a graphic featuring Ku Klux Klan imagery was circulated to other universities before a regional tournament, prompting widespread condemnation.

The controversy erupted after Toni Rachal, president of Howard University’s club tennis team, spotted the offensive material in a shared Google document sent to participating schools before last weekend’s tournament, WUSA9 reported.

The graphic features an altered Maryland state flag incorporating images of Ku Klux Klan hoods. Rachal discovered the image while examining a Google document that had been emailed to the tournament’s participating tennis clubs.

In a letter addressed to UMD, Rachal described the imagery as “associated with racial hatred and intimidation” and called for “meaningful accountability” following the incident, WUSA9 reported.

The tennis club at Howard, a historically Black university in Washington DC, released a statement on social media describing the image as “a recognizable symbol associated with the Ku Klux Klan”. It questioned how the image made its way into official tournament materials.

The University of Maryland’s president, Darryll J Pines, said the tennis club “distributed programming material with a graphic containing racist imagery directed at people who are Black or African American”, according to a university statement.

While the incident “may have directly involved only a few student team members”, the university’s recreation and wellness department moved to suspend the entire club indefinitely “pending an administrative investigation by the office of student conduct”, the statement said.