Archive

Critic’s Oldest Living Editor: Paul Oestreicher

Posted 2:51pm Monday 13th October 2025 by Iris Hehir

Long before he was a peace campaigner, a priest, or a friend of Desmond Tutu, Paul Oestreicher was an enemy alien. His family had fled fascism, seeking refuge in Dunedin – a city that offered safety, but not quite acceptance. In Dunedin, the Oestreicher family were reported by neighbours, Read more...

Local Body Elections Mini-Mag

Posted 11:01am Tuesday 7th October 2025 by OUSA Exec

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Brown Brilliance

Posted 10:46pm Saturday 4th October 2025 by Heeni Koero Te Rerenoa (Sky)

It was the issue no one could get their hands on. Copies of the Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori themed issue flew off the stands, and the kōrero reached corners of the motu that a Dunedin-based publication doesn’t usually touch. This year, Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori wasn’t just Read more...

Confessions of a Quiz Addict: Tips, Tricks & Free Chips

Posted 12:34am Monday 29th September 2025 by Aksha John

My name is Aksha, and I’m addicted to quizzing.  It all started in high school, with our chaotic, last-minute house quiz competition that I joined on a whim. Not expecting much, I somehow found myself buzzing in faster than anyone else. Each correct answer sent a tiny rush of triumph Read more...

Everything That’s Happened Since 2019

Posted 6:21pm Sunday 21st September 2025 by Giorgia Fletcher and Grace Verryt

CW, TW: Discussions of sexual violence.  Sexual harm is prevalent, invasive, and underacknowledged on campus, whether we want to admit it or not.  Three weeks into the academic year, Thursdays in Black (TiB) – the Otago branch of a national student-led sexual harm prevention Read more...

OUSA & Te Rōpū Māori Candidate Blurbs

Posted 5:35pm Sunday 21st September 2025 by Critic Staff

Voting is open from Monday, September 22nd at 9am until Thursday the 25th at 4pm for the Otago University Students Association Executive and the Te Rōpū Māori Te Rito. Here are your candidates. OUSA  President – Leads the Executive and serves as the primary Read more...

Te Reo o Te Moana

Posted 2:10pm Monday 15th September 2025 by Te Āwhina Pounamu Waikaramihi (Ngāpuhi, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāi Tahu)

Nā Te Āwhina-Pounamu-Waikaramihi (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Hine, Te Hikutū, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Porou, Ngāi Tahu, Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe) Kiringāua Cassidy (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāpuhi, Ngāi Takoto, Te Āti Awa, Read more...

From Vegas to the Valley: A Taste of Mita

Posted 2:01pm Monday 15th September 2025 by Jessie-Jade Witeri (Ngāti Whakāue, Te Whakatōhea, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Whanaunga)

Matariki Cribb-Fox (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Ngāti Apa) Shakayla Alapaki-Andrews (Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Mahuta, Pare Hauraki, Ngāti Paoa, Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha, Niue) When people think about Te Reo Māori, they often imagine one neat, Read more...

Broke, Hungry, and Over It: How Aotearoa New Zealand’s Supermarket Duopoly Hurts Students

Posted 6:00pm Sunday 7th September 2025 by Abby Wallace

We’ve all been there: standing in the checkout line, staring at your sad basket of instant noodles, cheap bread, and maybe some reduced to clear mince. When you’re down to your final $25 for the week and faced with the choice between a box or fresh veggies to get you through the weekend, Read more...

What Would Happen If There Was A Zombie Apocalypse (And How to Survive It)

Posted 10:35pm Sunday 24th August 2025 by Hanna Varrs

On March 25, 2020, Aotearoa New Zealand declared a nationwide state of national emergency and moved to Alert Level 4 in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. I remember how surreal it was – like something out of a low-budget movie. It affected everyone. If you’d told anyone before it Read more...

Critic’s Brush With Artistic Genius

Posted 11:51pm Sunday 17th August 2025 by Stella Weston

Art Week has made its mark again this year. The Link (turned art gallery) was even more of a hub of procrastination than usual, displaying a huge range of works of all mediums. Entries to the exhibition were showcased and sold alongside poetry, electronic art, and photography competitions. Critic Read more...

The Art of Dressing for Resistance: What to Wear to a Protest

Posted 9:58pm Sunday 10th August 2025 by Grace Hards

What you wear to a protest isn’t just about looking cool for the ‘gram. In reality, the clothes you wear to a protest are an intersection between fashion choices and politics: whether you’re marching for trans rights, chanting for Palestine, or standing silently in black on a Read more...

Is It Cheating? The Line Between Sleeping Sound and Sleeping Around

Posted 8:41pm Sunday 3rd August 2025 by Tilly Rumball-Smith

When you think of cheating, your mind will probably go to those who are constantly swinging between break-up and make-up sex as they swear they’ll never make that drunken mistake again – but can they please have a fourth chance? The blatant deception and betrayal of finding a grey hoodie Read more...

The Break You Don’t Take Will Break You

Posted 6:02pm Saturday 26th July 2025 by Heeni Koero Te Rerenoa (Sky)

It was the second or third week of uni. I was still riding the high of being the first in my whānau to attend university. With three scholarships under my belt, a double degree ahead of me, and a fresh start away from Whangārei, everyone said I was going to do great things – and Read more...

Fresher Beware

Posted 4:38pm Saturday 19th July 2025 by Hanna Varrs

Disclaimer: Based on true stories. Identifying details have been changed. It’s that time of year. You and a few friends (or randoms from Facebook) band together to form a flat. The hunt begins: endless viewings, frantically handing in applications, long debates about whether a dishwasher is Read more...

Critic Te Ārohi Census 2025

Posted 12:00pm Monday 14th July 2025 by Nina Brown

Disclaimer: AI was used as a data analysis tool in the research for this article. The Critic Te Ārohi census is back for its fifth year. What originally began as thinly veiled nosiness has morphed into an annual data-gathering exercise, tracking the trends of the fine specimen we call the Read more...

John Robinson and Ōtepoti’s Queer History

Posted 5:06pm Sunday 25th May 2025 by Grace Hards

At the top of a steep flight of stairs, tucked into a small cluster of rooms that made up his studio, Ōtepoti artist John Robinson's handcrafted jewellery was carefully displayed. If you looked up, vibrant artwork stretched across the walls all the way to the ceiling – beautiful, Read more...

Flat & Garden: Critic Te Ārohi’s Search for the Best of Student Living

Posted 10:26pm Sunday 18th May 2025 by Critic Staff

It’s an age-old fact: flatting in North D can be rough. But here at Otago, we students get creative. We customise, craft, and conquer — armed with Blu-Tack and blind optimism. Despite what the nation’s landlords think, students can be house-proud (especially if you bless us with Read more...

TURN DOWN FOR WHAT! No seriously, what? I couldn't hear you

Posted 2:51pm Sunday 11th May 2025 by Jonathan McCabe

Whether it’s the smell of the Greggs’ factory, snorting lines through a rolled up $20, or staring at multiple screens for hours on end at the library, students are accustomed to abusing their senses on the regular. Putting your body through the wringer is part of the university Read more...

Locked Out of Locking In

Posted 10:08pm Sunday 4th May 2025 by Stella Weston

North Dunedin is a place like no other. 20,000 students, textbooks in tow, eyes bleary from hours spent poring over readings and lecture recordings – and a bustling black market for Ritalin to fuel it all. From the artificial glow of Central Library during exam season, to the drunken depths of Read more...