Pace U football captain removed from team after confederate flag, Nazi salute photo surfaces

Pace University’s football captain was suspended from the team after a photo of him posing in Confederate flag garb while making a Nazi salute was released to media outlets by a black student group. 

The photo of Tyler Ownes, a senior defensive lineman, is a screenshot of a Snapchat sent out last week with the caption “The grand Wizard.” Snapchats are photos designed to disappear after a few seconds.

An alleged group of anonymous black students obtained the photo and sent it to the media, the Pace Chronicle reported.

“As African Americans and Pace University students we are extremely offended and believe something should be done about this,” the email to the Pace Chronicle, the university’s newspaper, read.

In a statement, Stephen J. Friedman, president of the private New York City school, agreed the photo was offensive and “contrary to the values of diversity, inclusiveness, and embracing the ethnic and cultural differences among students, faculty and staff that are deeply held at Pace University and it’s Athletic Department.” 

He continued, “This is especially true at this time when states throughout the country are recognizing the symbolic offensiveness of displaying the Confederate flag and the importance of accepting those with different backgrounds is being sorely tested by the refugee crisis in Europe.”

But many students say, while the photo could be considered offensive, Mr. Owens may not be a racist himself. 

“People do stupid things for stupid reasons,” said Chrystal Azatassou, a member of the school’s Black Student Union, the Pace Chronicle reported. “If it does turn out that Owens had malicious intentions, then the BSU will make sure justice is served.” 

Other students defended Mr. Owens, including a freshman student at the school’s public forum on the matter, who said that everybody has done something embarrassing in their past. 

“[Mr. Owens has] done so much for me. People are taking a joke out of context, it was just a couple of guys messing around, they saw [clothing], and jokingly put it on,” Mr. Owen’s former teammate, Addison Casey, told the Chronicle. 

Although Mr. Owens has been removed from the team he still remains on Pace’s online team roster. 

Mr. Owens started every game in the 2014 season and tied with the national lead for number of blocked kicks. He was also a Northeast-10 All-Conference Second Team Defense selection for 2014 and was given a spot on the USA Football Preseason All-American Team during the summer, according to his profile.