Briskin, who is Jewish says the Harvardcommunity is accepting of inter-faith romance, butthat parents can pressure children to refrain fromdating outside their religion.
Brisken says his parents make it clear thatthey want him to date only other Jewish students.
"It wouldn't make a difference [what race] theywere if they were not Jewish," says Briskin, whohas tried, unsuccessfully to date outside hisfaith. "Not Jewish is the main issue right now."
Brisken says interfaith relationships can leadstudents to question how they view their owncultural identity.
"It's made me wonder what about this identityis important to me," he say "Before I was contentnot defining myself. When it comes to dating, youhave to decide how much you want to let yourparents influence you."
But Snodgrass and Nguyen say the disapproval offamily or friends should not discourageindividuals relationships. Snodgrass says any kindof interracial relationships, whether a friendshipor a romance, is a beneficial experience for bothparties.
"I don't think you should limit yourexperiences by only hanging out with people ofyour own race," she says. "You can always learnfrom contact with people outside of your race."
Still many individuals who date interraciallyare those who don't strongly identify with theirown ethnic group students say.
Nguyen, for example says he grew up in a whitesuburb and did not date other Asians. Because ofhis lack of exposure to other minorities, he doesnot strongly identify with his own heritage.
"If you are dating a white person it could bebecause you act just like a white person but youhave slanty eyes," Nguyen says, "or it could beyou are so exotic that the person wants to seewhat you are like."
But those looking for a cross-culturalexperience in their romances can be disappointed.Kleinberg says she does not feel she is learningabout Chinese culture from her boyfriend because"he doesn't know that much about his culture."
Students with strong ties to their culturalbackground, she says, don't tend to haveinterracial relationships.
"The most radical people in ethnic groupdiscourage any kind of interrelating, dating orotherwise," Kleinberg says.
What's Interracial?
Not everyone sees race as an issue in theirromance. Rita Dai' 94 says she is currentlyinvolved in an interracial relationship but "itdoesn't feel like it."
Dai, who is Asian-American says that she doesnot view the relationship as interracial becauseboth she and her white boyfriend, Eugene "Gino"Mirabelli '94 are United States citizens.
"I am American; he's American, she says.
Dai says she thinks all relationships have todeal with differences in backgrounds, not justinterracial relationships.
"Everyone grows up in a different family, witha culture specific to your family," she says. "Youmay have more differences [in an interracialrelationship] but they'll be there anyway."