Archive

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...

Don’t Call It a Balancing Act: Med School and the Myth of ‘Equal Opportunities’

Posted 9:48pm Sunday 4th May 2025 by Heeni Koero Te Rerenoa (Sky)

Far from home and all he’s ever known, Mikaere Porē-Tipene faces the unrelenting demands of medical school while striving to honour his whakapapa. Balancing academic pressure with the expectations of his iwi, Mikaere must decide what success truly means – and who he’s doing it Read more...

Terrain Generation: The Biomes of Ōtepoti

Posted 10:24pm Sunday 27th April 2025 by Molly Smith-Soppet

Here at Critic Te Ārohi, we have reported on 100 years of changing student landscapes, but what about the actual land we stand on? In honour of the release of the great piece of media called A Minecraft Movie, as well as our annual National Geographic issue, we booted up a new world save and Read more...

The National Student Association You Haven’t Heard Of

Posted 11:21pm Sunday 13th April 2025 by Hanna Varrs

  Dictionary (you’ll need it): Student Associations: AUSA - Auckland University Students’ Association ATSA - Aotearoa Tertiary Students’ Association AUTSA - Auckland University of Technology Students’ Association LUSA - Lincoln University Read more...

Paying Homage to Critic of Old: 100 Years of Editors

Posted 7:10pm Sunday 6th April 2025 by Nina Brown

Editor’s note: Special thanks to the Hocken Library who house every issue of Critic Te Ārohi extending back to 1925. Without them, Critic’s history, beyond our scuffed website, would not have been preserved. Sit a monkey in front of a typewriter long enough and it’ll churn Read more...

Bodies on the Line

Posted 10:10pm Sunday 23rd March 2025 by Jodie Evans

POV: You just spent the last of your allowance on gig tickets, your fridge is a wasteland, and you’re dangerously close to monetising your toes. But there, casting sultry, cash-flashing bedroom eyes at you from the back of a discarded Critic on your coffee table, is a Zentech ad. A clinical Read more...

Big Red vs the Admin: A Response

Posted 9:17pm Sunday 23rd March 2025 by Andrew Geddis

In Issue 3, Matilda Rumball-Smith provided an interesting, well-written, and thoughtful take on how student life currently feels on Castle St and environs (‘Big Red vs the Administration: Who Controls Castle?’). Reading it prompted a few personal thoughts and observations. These Read more...

The Great Critic Drug Dealer Review

Posted 5:28pm Sunday 16th March 2025 by Critic Staff

Disclaimer: The content in this article is not intended to endorse or encourage the purchase, use, or distribution of illegal substances. All anecdotes are intended for entertainment purposes only. Always make informed and responsible decisions about substance use, and seek professional help if Read more...

Big Red vs the Administration: Who Controls Castle?

Posted 12:11am Monday 10th March 2025 by Matilda Rumball-Smith

Content warning: Contains reference to sexual assault and animal abuse Castle Street has a way of making legends out of flats. Some burn bright, some burn out, and some burn couches. Big Red has done all three. The fifteen-man flat is as notorious as the street it stands on. They are the Breatha Read more...

11 Hours with the Student President

Posted 7:38pm Sunday 2nd March 2025 by Zoe Eckhoff

Liam White. Not a myth or legend per se, but definitely the most important man on campus (aside from Daddy Grant). He’s responsible for managing and looking after the OUSA-baby in all its glory. Whether it’s getting along with everyone or shitting itself, Liam is ultimately the one Read more...

Flo-Week Review: Is There A New King of Castle?

Posted 8:53pm Sunday 23rd February 2025 by Jordan Irvine

Flo-Week is the time second- and third-years get pissed before the freshers start pissing them off. (I get it but, like, come on, give them a break). Each night a flat on Castle or Leith Street hosts with a totally original theme, in the hopes people are ready and willing to dress up to get down. Read more...

Support the Critic Te Ārohi 100th Year Book

Posted 4:05pm Tuesday 18th February 2025 by Critic

2025 marks Critic’s 100th year in print, and we are incredibly proud to announce our intention to produce a book to commemorate this milestone. A centenary only comes around once, and we’d be over the moon to see this project happen. Our deadline is March 16th to secure a starting Read more...

Breaking the STIgma

Posted 8:40pm Sunday 13th October 2024 by Jodie Evans

“Welcome to a dog shit dimension, where everyone is infected with something that they got from fucking.” Back in May, we attended Otago’s annual Capping Show, and much like every other year, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) were the punchlines of a handful of sketches and Read more...

Break-Ups: An Anthology

Posted 8:51am Sunday 6th October 2024 by Critic Staff

Love is cool and all, but chances are if you’ve been in love, you’ve also been through heartbreak. There’s no way around it: break-ups are shit. They can be respectful, and props to anyone who’s come out the other end with a friend instead of a blocked account and the ability Read more...