There are many things which cause us to stop what we’re doing and stare – a car accident, a fight or maybe a fire.

What about two people holding hands walking down the street?

Your first inclination may be to say no, but some think that if one of the people was a different race than the other, it would cause heads to turn.

The issue of concern here is interracial dating. The subject has caused much controversy during the past few decades and continues to stir up mixed opinions at NIU.

Surprisingly, the sentiments on the topic are quite varied. The feeling ranged from people not caring at all about the color of their mate’s skin to those who were highly selective in that they only chose to partner up with people of a certain color.

“I think where people come from affects whether or not they frown upon it,” said Kyle Wright, a freshman accountancy major.

Some were more blatant about expressing their views.

“You ask any black man and they’ll tell you; when a black guy dates a white woman, there’s a sense of pride, like a trophy,” said Nick Williams, a junior finance major.

Senior sociology major Talea Belle felt that interracial dating is frowned upon, but mostly only by black women.

“It’s frowned upon with black females when they see their men with a white woman,” Belle said. “We think, why did we work so hard to get an education, get to where we’re at, and we can’t even get a black guy?”

Others thought the concept wasn’t so terrible, but that different races of people go about things in different ways.

Junior electrical engineering major Gloria Agyakye thinks there were more white girl and black guy couples on campus than black girl and white guy couples.

“A lot of white girls like black men, they just don’t tell their mom about it,” Agyakye said. “Black girls can scare white guys away sometimes.”

Overall, even those who frowned upon the issue, seemed to agree that interracial dating has become less of an issue today than it once was.

Many students simply felt that no matter what race, the person who they connected with the best would be the person they would most likely date.

“It’s not about black or white; it’s about who understands me,” Belle said.