Duke may have found a new rival in the United Kingdom's University of Warwick, if the Blue Devils are up to the challenge.
Just one week after Warwick students set an unofficial record for the world's biggest pillow fight with 967 participants--enough for them to blow past the previous record holders in the Guinness Book of World Records--Duke students made their own bit of history with a 1,076-member pillow fight on Main West Quadrangle early March 5.
When Warwick pillow fighters got wind of the Blue Devils' record-stealing battle, they were not pleased.
Steve Pretty, societies and student development officer for the Warwick Societies Federation, which organized Warwick's Feb. 27 event as part of the school's Societies Week, told the University of Warwick's student newspaper that Warwick students should "declare war" on Duke.
"Duke has personally affronted the dignity of the 967 people who took part," Pretty told the Warwick Boar.
In response to Duke's challenge, Warwick's Societies Federation teamed up with the KPMG Sports Federation to organize another pillow fight, which was held March 11.
"Sports Federation and the Socs Fed must unite as a mighty fist, wielding the pillow of revenge against the young upstarts at Duke," Petty said in a March 8 article in the Boar, which called on its readership to join in the upcoming pillow fight.
And on March 11, Warwick students ably defended their unofficial title, registering 1,308 pillow fight participants, much to the delight of both students and local businesses, according to the Boar.
Jordan Capps, Trinity '02, who helped organize Duke's March 5 pillow fight, said it would be fun to develop a rivalry with the University of Warwick, but noted that such a development would require much more community involvement at Duke. Given the resources and timing necessary for a successful event, he said, another record-breaking pillow fight at Duke is not likely right now.
"The first event was timed to coincide with [Krzyzewskiville] and the Duke-UNC game, so recreating that kind of energy and community spirit would be a challenge," Capps said. "It would take a lot of the student body working together."
Although the Blue Devils' stint as pillow fighting champions was short-lived, Capp said the Duke effort was ultimately a success. "It achieved all of our goals," he said. "We did break the record, it was a fun event and the entire community was involved."
Despite all the recent activity surrounding the vaunted Guinness pillow fighting record, the official record still rests with Oregon State University, where 766 participants joined in a battle in November 2003. Guinness' verification process is extensive and can take several weeks to be completed.
Emily Almas contributed to this story.
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