2008 Woodie Awards
Elderly activist fights voter apathy
By: U- WIRE
Issue date: 10/13/08 Section: Campus
Bill Pitney is Duke University's most visible political activist during this election season.
But he doesn't live in a dormitory. He lives in a retirement home.
Since August, Pitney, 76, has camped out by the West Campus Plaza archway armed with stacks of voter registration sheets, sitting in his fold-up chair at his fold-up table for hours a day, every day. Up until today's voter registration deadline, he has waged a bipartisan war on apathy and ambivalence by signing up as many as 40 students to vote per day.
By his estimate, he's initiated almost 700 new voters-a total large enough to swing the toss - up state of North Carolina to one of the candidates, he said.
"The thing I notice is the intense interest in the election among students," he said. "This time, you're gonna vote big time - I can just see it."
Sticking out from the throngs of students leaving the Plaza clutching Subway bags or chatting on their cell phones, Pitney is impossible to miss. For a man in the September of his years, Pitney spoke with considerable spark-he has a sense of optimism rare among even the most idealistic undergraduates. He recognized that his willingness to change-to change political parties, to change racial prejudices-is not shared by many of his generation.
"In the retirement community there are some people who say 'Oh, if a black guy wins the election, the black guys are gonna run the country,'" he said as another student leaving the Plaza approached the table. "But there's so much diversity on this campus-my view is that racism is dead on Duke's campus. It's just so encouraging because this stain will be removed from our national landscape."
The opposition from other residents of his retirement community reinforces for Pitney the stark generational divide that the election has brought to light. For instance, after hanging a poster for Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama in his room, his fellow retirees complained until he took it down.
But he doesn't live in a dormitory. He lives in a retirement home.
Since August, Pitney, 76, has camped out by the West Campus Plaza archway armed with stacks of voter registration sheets, sitting in his fold-up chair at his fold-up table for hours a day, every day. Up until today's voter registration deadline, he has waged a bipartisan war on apathy and ambivalence by signing up as many as 40 students to vote per day.
By his estimate, he's initiated almost 700 new voters-a total large enough to swing the toss - up state of North Carolina to one of the candidates, he said.
"The thing I notice is the intense interest in the election among students," he said. "This time, you're gonna vote big time - I can just see it."
Sticking out from the throngs of students leaving the Plaza clutching Subway bags or chatting on their cell phones, Pitney is impossible to miss. For a man in the September of his years, Pitney spoke with considerable spark-he has a sense of optimism rare among even the most idealistic undergraduates. He recognized that his willingness to change-to change political parties, to change racial prejudices-is not shared by many of his generation.
"In the retirement community there are some people who say 'Oh, if a black guy wins the election, the black guys are gonna run the country,'" he said as another student leaving the Plaza approached the table. "But there's so much diversity on this campus-my view is that racism is dead on Duke's campus. It's just so encouraging because this stain will be removed from our national landscape."
The opposition from other residents of his retirement community reinforces for Pitney the stark generational divide that the election has brought to light. For instance, after hanging a poster for Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama in his room, his fellow retirees complained until he took it down.
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