On Wednesday October 14, those passing by the outdoor basketball courts on Park Road might have seen something unexpected: Eight tiny kittens. Sophomore Anna Hoover described the event as one where “you just show up and play with kittens.” She said that she definitely felt her stress levels being reduced—one of CAC’s goals in hosting this event.

Barbara Byer, Administrative Assistant in the School of Sciences, Engineering, Art, and Nursing, was the one who made this event possible. She coordinated with the Rockingham-Harrisonburg SPCA, who in turn provided eight kittens for the event. 

Two years ago, Byer started volunteering at the SPCA. She started by working with dogs, but eventually she had an opportunity to work with cats. This past summer she fostered about fifteen kittens; she said, “I just fell in love with cats and kittens and wanted to somehow bring this opportunity to campus.” 

When Byer approached Cedarwood RD and Asst. Dir of Student Programs Tyler Goss about the event, he was immediately sold on the idea. During the event, Goss estimated that a total of one hundred students cycled through. One student gave the kittens nicknames, Goss said, despite the kittens being named by the SPCA already. 

Both Goss and Byer have ideas about how to incorporate animals on campus in the future. At the very least, Goss hopes kittens can be on campus in an event once a semester. He said, “With giant tents all across campus, it feels fitting to just accept a circus [or] zoo vibe and bring on the animals.” He said that he has been in contact “with a local connection who has a wide variety of farm animals.” 

Byer, on the other hand, may have even bigger plans than Goss. She said, “I am intrigued by the idea of these cat cafes that are popping up in the world… You go into a cafe and you might order some coffee and there are cats hanging around.” This led to an idea she mentioned, which is “that we have a permanent foster location for SPCA cats.” The idea is to have cats living on a floor or a room within a building. Byer’s idea was to have them housed within Rutt house, the Biomedicine building. She wants to allow students to study or play with the cats if she can get approval to have them on campus. 

Byer also made the case that allowing cats on campus could be a good marketing opportunity for EMU. “If there was a campus that really took advantage of having pets on campus, that would be a great draw for students,” she said. Afterwards she mentioned the possibility of opening up volunteer or work study opportunities if cats were allowed to stay on campus. Another draw she mentioned was allowing Biomedical students to use Pre-vet skills on the cats or allowing the engineering students to make things for the cats. “We have a lot of resources on campus that aren’t being tapped, and this would be a way to do it,” Byer said. She also mentioned that the SPCA would be willing to provide all the resources for the cats besides cleaning equipment. The next steps Byer mentioned would be going to administration and talking with SGA. 

“I feel like if we had something like that on campus I would definitely spend at least some of my time there,” Hoover said. 

“I love the idea,” Goss said.