If you’re a Moravian student, you probably know of the school’s long-term celebrity guest. He’s been famous for decades and has been giving his dad, Dave, aneurysms for even longer. He’s a pop superstar and an iconic furball.

He is Alvin the Chipmunk.

In all seriousness though, Alvin has become a known figure among Moravian’s student body and even some of the staff because of the Instagram account, alvinuniversity.

The account has numerous posts with a 5-foot statue of the famous singing chipmunk in funny and unlikely situations.

From posing with Amos, the greyhound in front of Comenius to even President Bryon Grigsby himself, Alvin has done some extensive networking through this Instagram account.

How does someone go out and buy a giant Alvin statue and make it into a local celebrity? Take a look at this never seen before behind-the-scenes-exclusive peek at the life of this prolific chipmunk.

Marco Calantoni, junior, is a health science major and the primary caretaker of the furry phenomenon. According to Calantoni, a group of friends were scouring the depths of Facebook Marketplace until they coincidentally found Alvin, wearing his iconic cap and a red Aloha shirt. His previous owner was a New Jersey resident.

The fabulous furball was bought by a total of 10 people who got it for $250 in cash with each person pitching in $25. Calantoni is the only owner who goes to Moravian. Other owners go to DeSales, Northampton Community College, and some as far as West Chester University. Calantoni requested that the other owners remain anonymous.

“There are two reasons why we purchased our beautiful boy,” said Calantoni. “Initially, it was simply just because we thought it was hilarious. A 5-foot-tall Alvin statue is peak comedy. Secondly, we thought it would be a profitable investment.”

Calantoni isn’t wrong about that either. Just a quick Google search shows that sets of all three chipmunks, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, sell for nearly $5,600 which is approximately $1,867 per rodent. Comparatively, they got this Alvin for around 13% of the general asking price.

The idea to make Alvin into a social media star did not come from any of the owners, however. Instead, it came from one of Calantoni’s roommates, Owen Sebastro.

“We wanted to make his presence known to the world,” said Calantoni.

Since then, Alvin has become the self-crowned “Prince of Moravian” and has amassed 224 followers. Sebastro currently runs the alvinuniversity accounts on Instagram and Tik Tok. Among his first posts, he campaigned for his own banner to be hung on Elizabeth Ave.

“Like Batman with his batsignal, Alvin needs his banner,” said Instagram user, thereal_batman_gothamshero.

Though his campaign for his own banner was unsuccessful, it caught Grigsby’s attention. Afterward, Calantoni and Sebastro contacted Grigsby to set up a meeting to take a picture with the rowdy rodent.

Beyond that, Alvin has been seen making gingerbread houses, wielding lightsabers, chilling with Amos, hanging out with fraternity, Sigma Sigma Sigma, Buying food from the Blue & Grey Café, and standing on the big chair dedicated to Moravian’s past president, Christopher M. Thomforde.

“It continually surprises us how much Alvin has caught on,” Calantoni said. “A lot of people seem to know about him. Even some of the faculty know about him.”

Though he misses his brothers in fur, Simon, and Theodore, Alvin enjoys ruling over his kingdom at Moravian University. He does hope he will be able to go on a road chip to see Dave and his brothers, however. He’s also excited to go on a cruise next May but he hopes he won’t be chip-wrecked like his last one. Above all though, he stands fur what he believes in.

“I would just like to say that we appreciate everyone who supports Alvin the Chipmunk,” said Calantoni. “Please like our posts and follow the account; I think a good goal would be to reach 300 followers by the end of this year. Our ultimate goal, however, is to get all Moravian students to follow it.”