University Social Responsibility Towards Sustainable Coexistence of Humans and Animals on Campus: Case Study on Bilgi Animal Friends Society

Sa？etak BILGI Animal Friends Society (BAFS) is a university social responsibility project of Istanbul Bilgi University, initiated to raise awareness about the stray cats and dogs living on campus. The aim is to enhance the institution’s interaction with its social and physical environment and its stakeholders for the common good. Another aim is to improve the living standards of stray animals on campus by intensifying their interaction with humans, and by cooperating with the local municipality for their health and well-being. BAFS, the case of our research, is important for being one of the primary university-based corporate social responsibility initiatives in Turkey to raise awareness on stray animals, to improve their living conditions on campus, and to create an exemplary model of sustainable coexistence of humans and animals. In line with this, our research explores structural and operational characteristics of the BAFS initiative and assesses its relation with key principles of the university social responsibility approach