Racism is on the rise at colleges and universities around the country. This study was developed from a racial incident that culminated in physical violence at a medium-sized eastern university. This study used a naturalistic, qualitative approach to further understand the perceptions and feelings of white respondents in relation to racism. Respondents (N=39) included 13 faculty members, 13 staff members, and 13 undergraduate students. Interviewers collected personal data; observed and recorded the verbal and nonverbal behaviors of the interviewee; and followed a 10-item semi-structured interview guide. Most of the questions centered on issues evolved from the students' self-exploration of what it means to be white in a graduate course in multicultural counseling. The results of the interviews suggest: (1) racism exists with little ramification as far as the respondents' personal experiences; (2) stereotypes about blacks and an aversion to close inter-racial contacts are prevalent; (3) attitudes toward blacks are neither uniformly negative, nor totally favorable, but rather are complex, conflicted, and ambivalent; and (4) white is neither a race nor a color but something about which whites do not think. Respondents varied in the amount of racism that they see and in the level of commitment that they had towards fighting racism. (ABL)