A furry interloper has been prowling the hallowed halls of Harvard Law School.

The visitor in question touched off a social media frenzy this week after professor Annette Gordon-Reed alerted Twitter to his presence, marveling at the tabby cat nonchalantly strolling around the school's upper floors.

“Well, here's something you don't see everyday: a cat wandering the halls of Harvard Law School,” Gordon-Reed Tweeted Tuesday. “I'm used to seeing my colleagues' various golden retrievers. This is the 1st I've seen of the cat.”

Twitter quickly jumped in to solve the mystery of the law school cat: He's Remy, a neighborhood feline who makes the rounds in various Harvard buildings. And despite being new to Gordon-Reed, he's a law school regular.

Twitter users posted photos of Remy napping on the circulation desk at the law library as well as other encounters with him from years past. It turns out that Remy is quite the Cambridge celebrity. He has his own Twitter account and Facebook account with more than 1,000 followers. The Harvard Gazette documented Remy's campus exploits last fall.

Gordon-Reed said in an email Thursday that she was surprised by the attention her Tweet generated. It had garnered nearly 400 replies and 2,800 retweets by Thursday, not to mention coverage in the Boston Globe and the Daily Mail (which got it wrong by claiming Remy is a stray.)

“I know people love cats, so I suppose I should not be so surprised,” she wrote. “We're all in the mood for some warmth and/or levity. But what is interesting about the photo is that he seems so much at home, walking casually through the space.”

Remy wasn't skittish or alarmed by her presence and seemed to be on his way somewhere, she added. Gordon-Reed clarified that she had previously spotted Remy outside the law school, but had never before encountered him inside.

According to the Harvard Gazette, four-year-old Remy is owned by Cambridge resident Sarah Watton, and she's well aware of his double life. She gets calls daily from campus by people reporting his presence, which occasionally requires his extraction from university buildings.

This being Twitter, though, people couldn't help but have some fun with Gordon-Reed's Tweet. They offered up a cornucopia of alternative names for the kitty, including Sonia Soto-meow and Purrgood Marshall. Still others pegged Remy as a “purred-year law student.”