On March 9, 2023, the official Powell Cat Instagram account posted a single black square with the words, “RIP Powell Cat.” The post, which garnered nearly 24,000 likes, featured comments expressing shock and offering condolences. Heart and crying emojis flooded under the post as commenters shared their favorite memories, memorialized the cat or simply asked, “WHAT. HAPPENED.”

In the weeks following Powell Cat’s death, UCLA students mourned the iconic black tuxedo cat both online and offline, hosting a memorial outside of Powell Library and on the video game Minecraft. Powell Cat’s official Instagram account posted pieces of fan art, while other people filled a Kudoboard to remember the fallen cat and the lives they touched. UCLA even commemorated Powell Cat by posting a video titled, “Remembering a UCLA icon” to its official Instagram and TikTok.

Now, a full year from Powell Cat’s death, the bushes outside Kaufman Hall – the cat’s former home – remain conspicuously empty. The students that were here when Powell Cat was last on campus certainly notice the cat’s absence. Now, as new Bruins unfamiliar with Powell Cat enter campus, the unofficial mascot’s legacy is beginning to vanish. But there are students who are fighting to preserve their memory.

Powell Cat was a tuxedo cat who resided on-campus starting in 2015. Living first outside of Powell Library before migrating down to Kaufman, the cat quickly became a campus celebrity as students stopped to pet and feed them. Soon, a team of student volunteers known as the Powell Cat Feeder Friends cared for Powell Cat alongside their primary staff caretaker, Kathy Brown.

Powell Cat’s death saddened many students, such as Devon May, a second-year physiological science student, who found comfort in Powell Cat after leaving her pet-filled home to attend UCLA.

“There were moments, especially being far from home, where I just wanted to cry,” May said. “And then I’d just pet them (Powell Cat), and they’d sit in my lap, and I would just be like, ‘All right, I’m home’ for a second.”

The beloved cat also touched Kayleigh Morrissey, a former New Student Advisor who graduated in 2023. Morrissey said that even as a transfer student who had spent only a couple of years with Powell Cat, she was still shocked to hear of their death.

“Powell Cat has always felt in a way like a secondary mascot to UCLA,” they said. “I’ve always just felt that something is a little bit off or something feels wrong (without them).”

While Morrissey agrees that Powell Cat is an important part of UCLA history, she is not sure how long the cat will be remembered.

“I think Powell Cat will remain in UCLA lore at least for maybe the next 10 years,” they said. “But it is very difficult to say how things will change within 20 years.”

As an NSA, Morrissey tried to bridge that knowledge gap during her campus tours last year. But when they mentioned Powell Cat during orientation, only a few incoming students had heard of them.

Sarah Pack, a first-year ecology, behavior and evolution student, said she recognized the name Powell Cat but did not know much about the cat beyond their popularity.

“I’ve definitely heard about Powell Cat,” she said. “But I think it’s just because one of my upperclassmen friends made a joke about it, and I asked.”

Pack’s unfamiliarity with the former campus cat is not unique. Grace Swenson, a first-year physiological science student, said she heard of Powell Cat through UCLA social media before she was a student. Now on campus, the occasional Powell Cat T-shirt and upperclassman reference remind Swenson about the tuxedo cat.

“Powell Cat was a campus figure that I wish I had been able to meet or experience,” she said.

But for 2023 graduate Isabelle Sandbank, Powell Cat was more than just a forgotten celebrity. They were also a source of comfort, standing in for the animals she left behind at home. Sandbank began caring for Powell Cat after seeing an Instagram post from Brown, the cat’s primary caretaker, asking for volunteers to feed them.

Coming from a small town to a student body of over 30,000 undergraduate students at UCLA was a huge change for her. But Powell Cat made her feel welcome on campus.

“For Powell Cat, it seemed so easy,” Sandbank said. “And that also kind of made me feel like, you know what, I’m okay seeing thousands of people every day. If Powell Cat can do it, I can do it.”

As the memory of Powell Cat begins to fade, some students are frustrated with UCLA’s lack of formal memorialization of the cat.

This especially bothered Max Loy, a 2022 graduate and cat owner himself, who shared many conversations with Powell Cat and regarded them as a friend while he was at school. After receiving approval from Powell Library, he now plans to commemorate Powell Cat’s life by building an on-campus statue.

Loy launched a GoFundMe page where customers could donate money toward the statue in exchange for his homemade embroidered sweatshirts, with some featuring Powell Cat. He then put up posters around campus and took to the UCLA Reddit and Instagram to spread the word and provide updates on the statue.

At around 20 inches tall and 15 inches wide, the statue is meant to mimic Powell Cat’s actual size and appearance, Loy said. He went through many different poses, including a laying down cat and a cat with a halo, before settling on the cat’s final pose. The final iteration shows Powell Cat looking up to the left, offering hope and dignity.

After sculpting the statue using clay, Loy searched for a metalwork foundry – an expensive step – to cast it in bronze with 90% copper. He mentioned that the choice of casting metal has a fun side effect – one that mimics the famous Bruin Bear statue.

“The more you touch the Powell Cat statue, it’ll turn gold in color,” he said.

Loy added that the statue is nearly finished as he reaches the final stage of applying patina – the coating for the bronze statue. While the statue is almost complete, officially placing the statue on campus may be delayed as he seeks administrative approvals.

May supports Loy’s efforts to complete the statue. She feels that Powell Cat has earned a permanent memorialization on campus, similar to John Wooden and other campus figures.

To May, the statue also serves as a reminder of the other animals on campus that deserve just as much love. She became a caretaker for the Hill’s stray cats and started the Cats on the Hill Instagram account to raise awareness and coordinate feeding shifts. Passionate about advocating for the cats’ wellbeing, she and a team of four other students care for the three strays on the Hill – Tux, Callie and Pumpkin – who live in the Delta Terrace area.

In fact, these cats have become campus celebrities in their own right. For example, many students became outraged at UCLA Housing’s attempts to discourage leaving food out for the cats. The Hill Cats have even become spiritual successors to Powell Cat. When NSA and third-year sociology student Maddie Crume shared the news of Powell Cat’s death with incoming students on tours, students would ask whether there was a “new” Powell Cat, prompting Crume to think about the cats on the Hill.

With the Hill Cats serving as a reminder that stray cats need care on campus, Loy’s efforts to raise awareness do not end with the statue’s completion. He also wants to place a QR code near the statue that links to a GoFundMe page so that students can donate money to support stray animal rescues. Additionally, Loy’s Powell Cat sweatshirts will soon be stocked at the UCLA Store, and their profits will also fundraise for the same cause.

Morrissey also would like to see Powell Cat memorialized in UCLA history through the campus tours. As mentioning Powell Cat to visitors is completely optional for tour guides, Morrissey suggested making Powell Cat a consistent part of campus tours to solidify their legacy for years to come.

In commemorating Powell Cat permanently on UCLA campus – both with a statue and in campus tours – Powell Cat’s fans and caretakers hope to enshrine the unofficial mascot in UCLA history forever. Sandbank hopes that the campus continues to pay tribute to Powell Cat – a cat that offered many students comfort during stressful times and became an important figure in UCLA culture.

“For those freshmen that come in and don’t even know Powell Cat, it really hurts my soul a little bit,” Sandbank said. “Because Powell Cat was our unofficial mascot that we all loved really, really dearly, and I’m glad that they have made such an impact on our school.”