The University of Maryland’s (UMD) Club Tennis Team is suspended indefinitely after the college’s president said players sent a racist image targeting Black and African American students from other universities’ club tennis organizations, including Howard University.
The image was on the first page of a UMD document shared with organizations that participated in a tournament last weekend. The club team president for Howard University, one of the participating schools, described it as a recognizable symbol associated with the Ku Klux Klan.
“Not surprised, but shocked that it was just so bold and out there on the first page. I am definitely disappointed because it’s just supposed to be a fun environment,” one Howard University student said.
Howard University’s Club Tennis Team is calling on UMD and the executive board of its club tennis team to issue an official public apology to Howard University and its club tennis players. The university suggests that UMD club leaders and advisers go through sensitivity training and donate funds from the invitational tournament to the museum of African American History and Culture.
UMD’s club team issued a statement on social media apologizing for the racist image. “At the request of the Howard University Club Tennis team, and in a demonstration of our commitment to taking steps to begin repairing the harm we have caused, we have made a donation to the National Museum of African American History & Culture,” the statement said.
UMD President Darryll Pines condemned the image in a letter to the campus community and laid out the university’s plan to repair the “harm and hurt” it has caused.
“This has also impacted all tournament participants, and any person who has seen how acts of hate ripple through our society,” President Pines said in the letter. “We seek justice in the context of a legal system that provides few consequences for hate speech, and one power we have as a society is to never allow hate of any form to be normalized and accepted.”
At UMD, there is a memorial dedicated to Lt. Richard Collins III, a Bowie State University student who was killed on UMD’s campus in what prosecutors said was a racially motivated crime. The suspect in the case, a UMD student, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
After Lt. Collins’ murder, UMD launched a social justice alliance with Bowie State University, pledging to address critical issues and provide learning opportunities for the campus community.
In his letter, President Pines pledged to work with the alliance to provide cultural sensitivity training for members of the club tennis team.
