On Friday, September 16, Brigid Duffy is in her office at the Academic Technology department when her phone rings. It is someone from the Dean’s office who tells her there is an emergency she must attend to right away.

Outside of Six Tapia Street, near the Humanities Building, an older, nearly blind cat stumbles around slowly and is in danger of being hurt or killed.

Duffy is one of a handful of SF State employees who volunteer their time to help keep cats on campus safe, fed and spayed and/or neutered. As part of the Campus Cat Committee, Duffy and others care for about nine feral cats who live on campus.

“Our purpose is to keep cats on campus safe and fixed and our motto is better cats than rats,” sais Duffy with a laugh.

The committee has captured, spayed and/or neutered all nine cats who are believed to live on campus. Every day they feed the cats at two "feeding stations" on campus, where the cats are most frequently spotted.

The Campus Cat Committee began more than thirty years ago as a loosely organize group of animal enthusiast that fed cats on-campus.

Kathleen Formason, a now retired SF State employee, had the responsibilities handed down to her and she in turn handed them down to Duffy and Sheila Mc Clear, Director of Special Projects for SF State’s President.

According to Duffy, one important mission for the committee is socialize feral cats and find them a home. The adult feral cats are hard or impossible to socialize but many of the kittens have been adopted by members of the committee, other employees and students.

“Feral cats can be good pets,” said Duffy.

Maria Brown, Executive Secretary to the Vice President said she heard of the Campus Cat Committee through word-of-mouth. Then a month ago she adopted a feral kitten that had been trapped and then cared for by the committee.

“The cat is all black except for a small white spot on his throat and has big yellow eyes,” Brown recalls. “We fell in love with the cat instantly and the rest is history,” said Brown

Mc Clear has been feeding the cats on campus for more than twenty years and says that the committee is not only a “feel good” project but a useful one as well.

“In the old days when people were just feeding them, there were too many cats,” said Mc Clear, “but now the populations is controlled”.

Duffy and Mc Clear credit the committee’s success to the network of employees that keep them informed.

“It is really surprising how many good people are on campus and will tell us when something needs to be taken care of,” said Duffy.