Beat Duke Week gives students chance to win tickets to UNC-Duke basketball game

Each day of Beat Duke Week, hosted by the Carolina Athletic Association, gives students an opportunity to win tickets for the UNC-Duke game this Saturday. 

Beat Duke Week is a combined effort of the special projects committee of the CAA.

Senior Jennifer Appleyard, chairwoman of special projects, says each year t-shirts are made for Beat Duke week, but that is the only thing that is ever repeated.

“The T-shirt (design) changes every year,” Appleyard said. “We have new events every year to win tickets.”

The special projects committee holds the challenges for tickets. The lure of Beat Duke Week is the element of surprise.

“They are done randomly on social media,” said senior Murphy Donohue, chief of staff for the CAA.

The first winner of one phase four ticket was senior Ever Castro, who successfully moved a cookie from his forehead to his mouth. 

Donohue said each year on social media, she notices the various range of #BeatDuke hashtags.

“Everyone gets hype about why we hate Duke – it is consistent,” she said.

The events are announced via the Beat Duke Week 2015 Facebook page and the @BeatDukeWeek and @unccaa Twitter accounts, and they are run on first-come, first-serve basis as far as competing in the challenges. 

For the last few years, the CAA has teamed up with the senior class to hold the Senior Campaign Challenge. 

Monday marked the first day of the challenge.

The challenge is against the Duke senior class to see which class will win in 2 of the 3 categories: Highest senior campaign participation rate, highest average gift and highest total dollar amount given to their campaign.

According to senior Catherine White, the campaign chairwoman for the campaign challenge, the desire to beat Duke has increased fundraising. 

“It’s been great incentives for seniors this week,” White said. “This year, the numbers are definitely higher.”

This Monday marked the first time the UNC senior class has been ahead of the Duke senior class at this point in the campaign.

“Last year at this time we were not ahead of Duke,” White said. “Now we’re ahead of them in two different areas. We’re ahead in total participation and total amount raised.”

The senior class will hold another giving day on Wednesday in the Pit. 

university@dailytarheel.com