![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/younameit_1100x740.jpg\")
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The following first appeared in the Fall 2026 issue of Pitt Magazine<\/a>, as part of celebrating the centennial of the Cathedral\u2019s 1926 groundbreaking.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve walked across the Pittsburgh campus in the past quarter century or so, you\u2019ve likely heard plenty of discussion about one very popular lady: \u201cCathy is so tall and beautiful.\u201d \u201cI just have to make it over to Cathy by 2.\u201d \u201cHey, there\u2019s Cathy!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCathy\u201d has been a beloved, if somewhat controversial, moniker for the Cathedral of Learning for going on two decades. It\u2019s hard to say who coined the term and forever personified the landmark, but our research found appearances on social media as far back as 2013 and other early uses on the Pitt Reddit page in 2014 on a thread about campus ghosts.<\/p>\n The term picked up steam throughout the late 2010s, and by the time a new decade rolled around, the debate was full-fledged: Cathy or Cathedral<\/a>?<\/p>\n While there are outspoken naysayers of the nickname \u2014 often calling for respect toward the building and its significance \u2014 there\u2019s no denying its popularity. In a recent poll of users across Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok, the truncated \u201cCathy\u201d won over the more traditional \u201cCathedral\u201d with 58% of the overall vote. That\u2019s up from about 52% in a similar survey from 2022<\/a>. (We welcome letters from any Cathedral loyalists who wish to voice their dismay at our far-from-scientific findings.)<\/p>\n The truth is that Pitt\u2019s culture is rich with nicknames:\u00a0<\/p>\n Just look to the Petersen Events Center (colloquially \u201cthe Pete\u201d) or Chancellor Emeritus Mark Nordenberg (namesake of Nordy\u2019s). Referring to those hallowed halls as \u201cCathy\u201d is just the latest way that students \u2014 and, contrary to popular belief, many faculty, staff and alumni\u2014participate in that culture.<\/p>\n One thing is clear: Pitt people are as passionate about how they refer to the Cathedral of Learning as they are about the building itself. Some view the Cathedral with reverence and awe, an icon of towering ambition; others turn to Cathy as a font of connection and community, the harbor they\u2019ll always call home. The most beautiful thing about the University\u2019s defining structure is its refusal to be defined by any single person, purpose or pseudonym. The Cathedral, Cathy, belongs to us all \u2014 no matter what we call it.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The following first appeared in the Fall 2026 issue of Pitt Magazine, as part of celebrating the centennial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-306374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791972738_49_cathedral100_main_royalgold_325w_0-copy.jpg\")
\nAs Pitt looks back on the September 1926 groundbreaking of the Cathedral of Learning, check out additional stories, photos, a timeline and more<\/a> from the now century-old history of the University’s campus in the sky.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/tshirts_1100x.jpg\")
\nThese \u201cCathy\u201d or \u201cCathedral of Learning\u201d T-shirts were a hot commodity when Pitt first polled social media users in 2022 on their moniker preference.<\/p>\n