Max the cat is apparently a fixture on campus. I hope they gave him a cute little mortarboard hat, too.
CNN reports:
A cat just earned his doctorate from a Vermont universityFor many graduates, their college degrees come at the end of at least four years spent roaming the campus.Max, a 6-year-old tabby, is no different. Except now, he’s a Doctor of Litter-ature.He’s been visiting Vermont State University’s Castleton campus ever since his owner, Ashley Dow, began letting him out of the house, which is within walking distance of the school.Maurice Ouimet, the school’s dean of admissions and enrollment services, said the “very affectionate” Max is usually the first to greet him in the morning and will even come inside the admissions office in the wintertime.“The rest of his daily routine really revolves around where our students are at,” Ouimet said.“So, he’ll frequently head up the hill and park himself outside one of our main academic buildings so as students come and go from class, he’ll oftentimes just be sitting on the wall.”Max doesn’t shy away from climbing all over the students, Dow said, and “so he’ll get up and get on their backpacks and they’ll walk around and everybody’s doing selfies.”“I would say he’s a charismatic cat because he just brings people to him,” Ouimet said, adding Max often reciprocates bystanders’ affections by “standing up and purring.”Max also greets visitors who come for tours of the school, with Ouimet saying the tabby “feels like he has a job to do in welcoming people to the campus.”Max earned a degree at a pivotal time in the university’s history. Vermont State University’s 2024 class marks the first combined graduating class after the merger of Castleton University, Northern Vermont University and Vermont Technical College. The three schools combined to form Vermont State University in the summer of 2023.
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