# Interracial dating ban **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-dating-ban/238740 "2004-04-07T14:00:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bromley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Bromley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bromley)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-dating-ban/238740/1 "2004-04-07T14:00:29Z")
I was looking at an Ashcroft profile on the [BBC](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1120440.stm) site when I came across this gem: > [@](#): > > He angered Democrats in 1999 by accepting an honorary degree from South Carolina’s Bob Jones University, which until last year banned interracial dating. Students still have to have parental permission. Excuse me? Can/could any insitution ban interracial dating in the US? These students are presumably aged 17-23. A link to the [BJU](http://www.bju.edu/index) site. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-dating-ban/238740/2 "2004-04-07T14:08:47Z")
I’m pretty sure that BJU, being a religious institution, is privately funded which leaves it free of many restrictions placed on taxpayer funded schools. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-dating-ban/238740/3 "2004-04-07T14:21:58Z")
Yep, they’re wacky. As much as I hate to say anything to put fellow Christians in a bad light, BJU is just way over the top. I went to a private high school which was distantly affiliated with BJU and we held some basketball tournaments there. Got to see some rules close up. Women have to wear skirts, no pants (though that might have changed inthe past 15 years.) All dates are chaparoned. Anything other than incidental contact between the opposite sexes is forbidden. Pretty sure there is still a curfew in affect as well. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-dating-ban/238740/4 "2004-04-07T14:30:28Z")
The short answer is yes. Any private institution in the U.S. has the right to set pretty much any restriction on conduct they please. A private college may except government funding for a program, and that funding may carry non-discrimination clauses, but that’s a different matter. If the private club I belong to doesn’t want people with blue eyes as members, and will expel any member who dates a person with blue eyes, they are completely within their rights to do so. Just as the member is within his/her rights to quit the organization. For that matter, public colleges also used to have very restrictive policies for things like curfew and visiting policies. Their justification was that they were acting “in loco parentis” (in place of a parent) for underage students. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-dating-ban/238740/5 "2004-04-07T14:31:58Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > A private college may except government funding for a program, and that funding may carry non-discrimination clauses, but that’s a different matter. Accept. ACCEPT. Damn, damn, damn. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-dating-ban/238740/6 "2004-04-07T14:32:06Z")
Isn’t BJU Bozo Jones University? ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-dating-ban/238740/7 "2004-04-07T14:35:02Z")
According to the BJU\* website, [dress codes for visitors](http://www.bju.edu/aboutbju/guest/index.html) appear somewhat relaxed > [@](#): > > We ask the young ladies to wear modest dresses or skirts (please, no hems or slits above the knee and no sundresses) and hose. We ask that you not wear pants (except for recreation) and that you not wear shorts. > > We ask the young men to wear collared shirts and casual or dress pants and to have their hair trimmed neatly (off the collar and with their ears showing). Except for recreation and summer camps, we ask that you not wear blue jeans. It’s www.bju.edu, really it is. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-dating-ban/238740/8 "2004-04-07T15:29:16Z")
Similar thread [Does Bob Jones University still prohibit interracial dating?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=150835&highlight=jones+university) ---
**Author:** ![Jplacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@Jplacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jplacer)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-dating-ban/238740/9 "2004-04-07T23:22:21Z")
An interesting story about Bob Jones University. They have an excellent religious art collection in their gallery. My girlfriend at the time was an art student, so she made me take her to visit. I have long hair. (My brother died from cancer, so I grow out my hair every two years to donate it to charity when I get it cut). After looking around the gallery for a bit, a worker bee said I had to put my “hair under my hat” so I wouldn’t offend other patrons. I guess it is better to wear a hat indoors then to have long hair. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-dating-ban/238740/10 "2004-04-07T23:42:53Z")
Cue story. Did Jesusu have short hair, above the collar, and showing the ears? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-dating-ban/238740/11 "2004-04-07T23:54:27Z")
Has anyone made a “no pants” joke yet? No? Well then… ahhahaha no pants ahahahhh Thank you.