Cleaner’s complaint gets Scribbles, the campus cat, barred from dorm rooms, so crafty senior student forces administrators to soften the ban: “I was upset by the college email, but Scribbles was more so”

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Jul 15, 2025 9:00 PM EDT

Universities love rules as much as cats love ignoring them.

Each corner of campus comes with a policy document, drafted by someone terrified of unplanned joy. Bedtime hours, kettle wattage, poster dimensions, all recorded. Yet the simplest threat to order is never a student riot. It is a soft purring intruder with whiskers.  

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  • 01
    During my final year of university, I lived in a room in the main court of my college grounds that was often. frequented by the college cat, owned by one of the professors.
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  • 02
    I never found out her real name, but I always called her Scribbles. She would often spend entire days (and nights!) hanging out in my room; I loved having her round and grew quite attached.
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  • 03

    "Scribbles found the warmest place in the room"

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  • 04
    The cleaner who cleaned my room was also in love with Scribbles, and would sometimes bring treats for her to snack on.
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  • 05
    But then the cleaner went on holiday, and someone else came to replace her. The new cleaner evidently didn't like the idea of there being a cat in my room, because the very next day there was an email from the college administration:
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  • 06
    "Animals, such as cats, are not permitted to be in students' rooms".
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  • One final-year student learned this when the college cat, known to her as Scribbles, made a bedroom its second office. The regular cleaner adored the furry visitor, so nothing was said. Enter a substitute cleaner, armed with bleach and a sense of duty, and an email soon warned that animals were banned from student rooms. Doors were shut, paws scratched paint, morale plunged.  

  • 07

    "Scribbles ruining a game of Dobble"

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  • 08
    I was upset by this email, but Scribbles was more so. Whereas previously I had left my door ajar so as to allow her in whenever she wanted, now my door was locked, and she would spend hours clawing at it and mewing to be let in.
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  • 09
    Whenever I wanted to leave my room, I had to be careful not to let her dash past me when I opened the door - and that gave me an idea.
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  • 10
    The next day, in the morning, while the cleaners were doing their rounds, I stayed outside my door with Scribbles - playing with her, giving her all the attention she wanted.
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  • 11

    "Scribbles sleeping on my now wife"

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  • 12
    Everything short of actually letting her in.
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  • The cat protested outside the locked door, vocal and desperate. Dodging the furry missile became a daily workout. Then came a plan built on timing. On cleaning morning the student stayed in the hallway, showering Scribbles with attention but never opening the door. The moment the cleaner arrived, the cat sprinted inside the forbidden zone before any human could stop it.  

  • 13

    "Scribbles helping with my coursework"

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  • 14
    Once the cleaners had almost arrived at my room, I parted with her and went to breakfast.
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  • 15
    My cleaner came up the stairs to see a cat scratching at my door, begging to be let in.
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  • 16
    And, of course, when they let themselves in to clean the room, she would have bolted in ahead of them.
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  • 17
    Knowing Scribbles, it would not have been easy to convince her to leave my room once she was in there.
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  • 18
    The following day there was another email from the college administration: "To clarify our earlier email, animals are not to kept *unsupervised* in students' rooms, or kept overnight".
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  • 19

    The cat is not to be allowed *into* students' rooms

    "The new cleaner evidently didn't like the idea of there being a cat in my room" Okay Scribbles, play it cool... see you later! Huh... did the cat just break in
    via Cat'chy Images - Nynke van Holten from/fstop123

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Admin discovered a loophole it had written itself into. The next memo softened the ban, now fussing only about overnight stay and unsupervised lounging. Problem solved. Scribbles received daytime residency, the student kept night time quiet, and the policy office learned that feline persistence beats paperwork. In the eternal match between cat fur and red tape, chalk one up for whiskers. Campus tales recall Scribbles rewriting policy with one casual paw swipe.

  • 20
    "Well", I thought to myself, "I can live with that".
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