The University of Maryland suspended its club tennis team after a tournament program featured Ku Klux Klan hood imagery that the school called deeply harmful and offensive.
Club tennis members at the University of Maryland in College Park distributed tournament materials that swapped parts of the Maryland state flag for pointed Klan hoods, then watched the school suspend the whole roster, forfeit its matches, and open a police investigation.
NBC News reported that the graphic went out in a tournament program to visiting university teams last weekend, including Howard University’s club tennis squad. Howard’s team later posted the image and described what it showed.
Howard club tennis president Toni Rachal said the first page carried a recognizable Klan symbol below the Maryland club tennis logo. Pointed hood masks with eye holes sat in the top right and lower left quadrants, replacing the Crossland coat of arms from the official Maryland state flag.
"The imagery is a recognizable symbol of white supremacy, organized hate, and violence."
That is how Howard’s team put it. The caption added that it was “important for people to see what is being condemned.”
UMD Recreation and Wellness said staff learned of the graphic on Saturday. By Tuesday the department had suspended the club tennis team pending an investigation, even while noting the episode may have involved only a few members.
AP News reported that Recreation and Wellness staff found members had emailed programming material with racist imagery targeting Black or African American people to other regional tennis clubs ahead of the fall tournament. The matter went to the University of Maryland Police Department and the Office of Student Conduct.
The university’s statement said officials were “horrified” and offered “regret and sincere apology for the harm that this has caused.” The Maryland team forfeited its matches. Other teams kept playing.
Breitbart reported the same core sequence: a Google document with the graphic went to other tennis organizations, Howard was among the recipients, and the club was suspended while an investigation began.
The Maryland club tennis team posted its own apology on Instagram. It called the image abhorrent and said the club took full responsibility for failing to catch and remove it.
"Last weekend, our club shared an abhorrent image which was included in a tournament program and distributed to teams from the visiting universities."
The team said it did not intend to share an image “evoking hate and racism,” but added that the result was unacceptable and did not reflect the club’s values. Members apologized in person and by email to the affected teams.
"Moving forward, we are committed to engaging in education and training about the history and impact of racism and hate symbols."
At Howard’s request, the Maryland team said it donated to the National Museum of African American History and Culture as a step toward repairing the harm. The dollar amount was not disclosed.
University of Maryland President Darryll J. Pines condemned the image “in no uncertain terms.” He said it was deeply harmful and offensive and offered his own apology for its impact.
"It was deeply harmful and offensive, and I offer my apology for its detrimental impact on one and all."
Pines said the university must first acknowledge how the incident affected Black and African American community members, the Howard club tennis team, and Black students on Maryland’s own club tennis roster, then work to repair the hurt.
Aniya Baker, vice president of the Black Student Union, went further on Thursday. She argued reactive discipline is not enough and called for sustained accountability and daily protection of Black students’ safety and dignity, not only when an incident draws public attention.
"Creating a safer and more inclusive campus requires more than reactive disciplinary measures; it requires sustained accountability, intentional engagement, and a genuine commitment to protecting and supporting Black students."
How the graphic got into the tournament materials is still unclear. So is which students produced or approved it. University police confirmed an investigation is open and declined further detail. The Office of Student Conduct has not announced findings. No charges or named perpetrators have been made public.
KKK hoods on a school tournament handout are indefensible. Full stop. A free society can reject organized hate symbols without turning every campus foul-up into a permanent political program, or punishing a whole roster before anyone knows who put the image in the file.
