Beat Dook Parade
The practice of misspelling the name of UNC—Chapel Hill's rival as "Dook" probably began in the 1930s, when "Beat Dook" banners were common at pep rallies. The annual Beat Dook Parade, sponsored by Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, began in 1948 with a procession of twenty-eight cars and floats. The parade, held on the weekend of the UNC-Duke football game, traveled down the main block of Franklin Street. The number of floats grew steadily, as did the number of spectators, with thousands turning out to watch the parade each year. The 1962 parade was an especially rowdy one, drawing the criticism of Chapel Hill officials and university administrators. Several floats were said to be offensive and in bad taste —examples included floats with a large screw ("Screw Dook") and an outhouse ("Dump on Dook"). The sponsoring fraternities were reprimanded, and campus administrators threatened to cancel the parade. The fraternities worked out an arrangement where their floats would be submitted for official review prior to entering the parade. With increased scrutiny and caution, the parade continued through the mid-1990s.
Date Established: 1948
Date Range: 1948 – Present
Float from the 1973 Beat Dook Parade. Yackety Yack, 1974, North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library.