Archive

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 Nā 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...

Sidelines to Sabers: A Sports Saga

Posted 5:44pm Saturday 28th September 2024 by Hunter Jolly

I’ve never really been a fan of Big Sport™. The conventional Kiwi kids’ rugby, cricket, soccer, tennis, and basketball never really piqued my interest, and besides Palmy’s love of canoe polo, New Zealand high schools don’t tend to offer a ton of other options. Parkour Read more...

Dylan Lloyd: Polytech & Parasport

Posted 5:20pm Saturday 28th September 2024 by Adam Stitely

There are not many who live, breathe, and work sports to the same extent as twenty-year-old Otago Polytechnic student Dylan Lloyd. Ever since Dylan got into his first Wheelchair Rugby chair at a Halberg Games event in 2019, he instantly knew that it was for him. He’s devoted his life to Read more...

Better Initiations & Flat Warmings: OUSA Exec Test Alternative Initiation Methods

Posted 8:30pm Sunday 22nd September 2024 by OUSA Exec

Initiations. The age-old tradition of the oldest university in Aotearoa – but also, not really. Students come and go, upholding the bastion of traditions in the name of the “true student experience” without realising they cycle out of the rotation faster than a cheap pair of Read more...

That’s just the rules of Wheminism - Opinion: Māori Wāhine deserve their flowers

Posted 4:23am Monday 16th September 2024 by Nā Heeni Koero Te Rerenoa, R.W.C, Jessie Witeri, Maria Davis-Tini, Hineira Tipene-Komene

Navigating tikanga Māori can be like navigating your waka through the waves – it’s dynamic, fluid, and never the same from one iwi to the next. The idea that tikanga (practices) is a fixed, rigid structure is laughable when, for centuries, Māori have adapted, evolved, and Read more...

The Limit Does Not Exist: Kura Kaupapa Māori and Beyond

Posted 4:16am Monday 16th September 2024 by Shakayla Andrews-Alapaki

Conventional education often shackles success to outdated standards and narrow frameworks, measuring achievement by grades or awards. The dynamic force of Kura Kaupapa Māori (KKM) throughout the motu redefines what it means to achieve greatness. Kura Kaupapa Māori are Māori language Read more...

Critic Te Ārohi’s Third Not-So-Annual Kebab Review

Posted 4:07pm Saturday 7th September 2024 by Critic Staff

2020 was a year of many firsts. The pandemic pushed the population to extremes – emotionally, yes, but also creatively, with many trying things they’d never thought to before. Sourdough starters were born, hair-cutting scissors were purchased, and Critic Te Ārohi published the Read more...