Lamarcus the Trending Campus Cat

Move over Lacumba! There’s a new cat in town and his name is Lamarcus, endearingly chosen by the students of Sidechat.
Earlier last week, campus-goers noticed a particularly furry, feline friend roaming the streets of the campus and decided to take him in as one of Southern University’s very own. It all started with a picture of the cat bathing in the sunlight and laying on a bed of grass, surrounded by flowers. The post’s caption read “Just saw a cat on my way back to the dorm,” with a couple of heart emoticons.
Quickly after being posted to the anonymous app, students attempted to come up with a name for the stray with one unidentified user suggesting the name Lamarcus, which seemed to stick.
With a coat as white as snow spotted with gray patches, Lamarcus warmed up to students who would pass by, occasionally petting him and providing him with food and water. Lamarcus’s presence grew both on the social app and on campus as the days passed with an edited meme featuring the cat in a Southern University bucket hat receiving nearly 800 upvotes.
It was clear students had taken a liking to this untraditional new student as many offered to adopt the cat to prevent any harm from happening to it, given it’s new popularity around campus. One anonymous student wrote: “We gotta feed the campus cat… make sure Lamarcus Good!”
Another student wrote, “Y’all done killed our campus Turtle. Don’t know what happened to the dogs. Ran off our crocodile and raccoon. Y’all bet not harm Lamarcus!”
It became somewhat of a journey tracking down where Lamarcus would be on a daily basis; some days he would be seen near the on-foot bridge, over “The Hump” near local businesses, in the residential life areas, or next to Mayberry and Dunn Dining Halls. Students, in search of their beloved unofficial campus mascot, even took the liberty of creating a missing poster for the animal, prompting students to “report to sidechat” if they had any updates. Ultimately, the cat would always be found near or around campus momentarily, much to the relief of the concerned student body.
The Digest caught up to some of Lamarcus’s fans to get their opinion on his presence around Southern’s campus with Camille Baines a Sophomore majoring in Pre-Vet studies expressing, “It just brought joy to the campus because it gave you something to look forward to. Like, when I go to class I’m going to see Lamarcus by the tree… they even named him! At this point… he’s a staple to Southern University’s campus.”
Though Lamarcus may seem harmless, experts warn to beware of stray animals as they could carry diseases such as bacterial, fungal, or viral diseases such as rabies. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), “Millions of these free-roaming abandoned and feral cats exist in the United States. Most of these cats will suffer premature mortality from disease, starvation, weather extremes, or trauma, or euthanasia. Negative impacts are not limited to the cats themselves….They also pose a threat to public health (AVMA.org).”
This seems to not be the case with Lamarcus as students felt compelled to warm up to the cat with Amari Jackson, a Senior majoring in Therapeutic Recreation stating, “He’s a really chill cat and most cats aren’t that friendly so it was just a nice thing to see. In a way it kind of brought the campus together….”
Wherever he came from, Lamarcus seemed to spark a conversation that connected students over a shared cause—bringing the campus community together one paw at a time.