Edmund, one of USC’s beloved campus cats, wades through the grass near the C.S. Lewis Student Center.
After a long, stressful day studying and going to class, many students at the University of South Carolina look forward to seeing the local stars that make the campus feel even more special.
Except that some of the most well-known celebrities at USC aren’t able to shake hands or autograph shirts. They do, however, let passersby scratch behind their ears and rub their bellies, if they’re feeling friendly.
Four cats, Figaro (students call him Figgy), Edmund, Eustace and Lucy II, have captured the hearts of thousands of students and generated a massive social media presence, just by lounging around. They’re owned and cared for by Paul Sterne, the chaplain at C.S. Lewis Student Center.
Sterne said his furry friends do one thing really well: They make students happy.
“These cats bring joy and connection,” he said. “For students who are missing their own pets, they act a lot like surrogate pets.”
Take Nolan Greene, a freshman at USC, for example. The felines serve as a comforting reminder of the pet he had to leave behind when moving to campus.
“They make my day a little better, I’ll be honest,” Greene said. “I definitely miss my cat at home, so it’s nice to have some here to pet on my walk home from class.”
Figaro and Edmund are the most recognizable and outgoing of the group. They regularly roam near the C.S. Lewis Student Center, situated right by the Capstone and Columbia Hall dorms, and the Close-Hipp Building, where hundreds of students attend class daily.
Eustace is the shyest cat and won’t stick around long enough to be pet, and Lucy II can only be found inside the C.S. Lewis Student Center.
Isabella, whom I caught petting Edmund on her way back from class, said her day always gets better when she gets to greet or see any of the cats, and that they add a unique experience to campus that’s hard to find anywhere else.
“In my perspective, I always have class at Close-Hipp, so seeing them is a special treat for me,” Isabella said. “I have cats, so seeing them reminds me of home.”
The cats are social media stars, although Figgy usually gets most of the attention, creating a cult following on their Instagram and prompting fans to post on other social media sites. One of them is Yik Yak, an app that allows college students to share photos and messages anonymously.
Sterne acknowledged his cat’s social media presence as something far greater than he imagined.
“It’s crazy, don’t these people posting have lives themselves?” Sterne joked.
People post the cats’ whereabouts, sometimes daily, and many people react with their love. However, not every post is positive, Sterne said.
Every so often, someone will post fake information about the cats to get a social media reaction, Sterne said. One time, someone on Yik Yak falsely claimed that Figgy had been hit by a car, prompting Sterne to make an official announcement on their Instagram, urging people to trust only information from their social media accounts.
Even if the posts aren’t true, it reminds him that 9-year-old Figgy’s time on campus isn’t going to last forever, and he will eventually take his last walk around campus. However, Sterne knows that the green-eyed tabby cat will have a permanent impact on students.
“Obviously, at some point it’ll happen,” Sterne said. “And then I think, ‘Oh, there’s going to be lines all the way down the block with people waiting to pay their respects to Figgy.’”
