University of Maryland club tennis team suspended after racist material distributed, staff says
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland club tennis team has been suspended indefinitely following allegations that members distributed tournament promotional material containing a graphic with racist imagery targeting Black and African Americans.
The material was allegedly emailed to other regional university tennis clubs regarding an upcoming fall tournament at College Park.
The incident has since been referred to the University of Maryland Police Department for review.
While the incident may have directly involved only a few individuals, UMD Recreation and Wellness suspended the entire club tennis team pending an investigation by the Office of Student Conduct.
As a result of the suspension, the UMD club tennis team forfeited its matches in the tournament, which proceeded for all other participating teams. Student leaders from the team met with visiting team captains to take responsibility, apologize, and acknowledge the incident. The leadership also sent an apology email to every invited club program.
University staff provided on-site support and met directly with visiting teams during the event. Additionally, UMD’s director of Recreation and Wellness sent an email acknowledging and apologizing for the incident to recreation directors and club presidents at all participating universities.
The investigation is continuing at this time.
The Source: Information in this article comes from University Communications University of Maryland.