For the past three years, a group of stray cats has lived quietly below Landrum Academic Center. They may not have been asked for or invited by the university, but they were adopted by the campus community as our own. Now, according to a university statement released to The Northerner, these animals are to be removed due to “health and safety concerns.”
The university claims these cats risk attracting wildlife, disrupting those with allergies and interfering with HVAC equipment. They are, in their eyes, a maintenance liability. But that is precisely where the disconnect is stemming from. These cats aren’t a harm to the community members who care for them: they are family.
I understand that the university has to uphold policies. They can’t become a zoo, that’s completely fair, but I think this policy feels like a solution in search of a problem…