Archive

Student Fined $300 for Eating a Pie

Posted 11:52am Sunday 21st March 2021 by Sean Gourley

A local student has been slapped with a $300 fine after eating a pie in the Night ‘n Day Regent line on St Patrick's day.  “I think it’s fair enough on their part to give me a fine but I did not expect it to be a ridiculous amount of money,” said Greg*, who admits Read more...

$10,000 Set Aside For Mysterious Clubs

Posted 11:42am Sunday 21st March 2021 by Erin Gourley

OUSA has $10,093 set aside from selling equipment belonging to old clubs. The money is currently held in trust for future clubs who are similar to the old clubs that were disaffiliated.  OUSA came across this issue when discussing whether to sell the Dunedin Fire and Circus Club’s Read more...

Harlene Gives Harlene an Honorary Law Doctorate

Posted 11:33am Sunday 21st March 2021 by Denzel Chung

Outgoing Vice-Chancellor Harlene Hayne got a very special going-away gift from the University: A honorary PhD in Law.  Some get gold watches or silver spoons, but not Harlene. Despite her academic background in psychology, Harlene was awarded a law degree at a graduation ceremony two Read more...

Student Fined $300 for Eating a Pie

Posted 1:04pm Friday 19th March 2021 by Sean Gourley

A local student has been slapped with a $300 fine after eating a pie in the Night ‘n Day Regent line on St Patrick's day.  “I think it’s fair enough on their part to give me a fine but I did not expect it to be a ridiculous amount of money,” said Greg*, who admits Read more...

VUW Accidentally Wipes Desktop Computers

Posted 3:08pm Wednesday 17th March 2021 by Erin Gourley

Victoria University of Wellington accidentally deleted all the files stored on its desktop computers last Friday. Items in the H: drive, M: drive, or the cloud were still accessible. This morning, staff and post-grad students received an email saying that IT were “still working on a Read more...

ODT Ends Half-Century Contract For Manager of Paperboys

Posted 5:10pm Monday 15th March 2021 by Denzel Chung

A woman who has helped to deliver newspapers to Dunedin for 45 years, managing 60 children and disabled people, had her contract ended in a single letter from the ODT on Friday.  Sue Loan has managed the distributors of the ODT for 45 years. She managed 60 people, including Read more...

Queer Space Will Open By End of April

Posted 11:24pm Saturday 13th March 2021 by Denzel Chung

A queer space, which has been in the works since 2018, will open on campus by the end of April.  President Michaela Waite-Harvey said that “the space is located on the first floor of the University Union building near the Terrace Lounge. “We’re putting the final touches on Read more...

KnowYourStuff Tested 161 Drugs During Flo and O

Posted 11:20pm Saturday 13th March 2021 by Erin Gourley

KnowYourStuff tested 161 drug samples during Flo and O Week in Dunedin, according to a preliminary report on their testing service in Dunedin.  This is an increase on samples tested in previous years. During Re O last year, KnowYourStuff tested only 91 samples.  Of the 161 samples, Read more...

One Student’s Trash Another’s Treasure

Posted 11:16pm Saturday 13th March 2021 by Fox Meyer

OUSA’s O Week Drop for Good initiative kept thousands of items out of landfills, and put them back in student flats, where garbage belongs. The event also made $5,400 for OUSA, according to their meeting last Monday.  “So much of this stuff is high-quality,” said Emily Read more...

Student Meant to be Near Epicentre of Quake

Posted 11:06pm Saturday 13th March 2021 by Fox Meyer

Four Otago students were meant to be on a boat offshore of the Kermadec Islands on the morning of March 5. This would have placed them near the epicentre of the M7.4 and M8.1 quakes that triggered Tsunami warnings in the North Island.   In a weird twist of fate, a last-minute Covid Read more...

School of Fishermen Need Herring Aid

Posted 11:03pm Saturday 13th March 2021 by Oscar Paul

No one caught a fish at the Otago Salmon Angling Association’s (OSAA) fishing competition last Saturday.  In the fishing competition, 200 fishermen and fisherwomen had 24 hours to catch any Salmon, Kingfish or Kahawai in the Otago Harbour. The biggest fishes caught could net the Read more...

Second-Year Discovers New Species of Dolphin

Posted 10:55pm Saturday 13th March 2021 by Fox Meyer

Students have discovered what is “almost certainly” a new species of dolphin while on an annual geology field trip. The mandatory second year field trip spends one afternoon at the Tokorahi lime quarry, where students are given some time to poke around for fossils in the limestone Read more...

More Students Studying At Otago Than Ever Before

Posted 10:46pm Saturday 13th March 2021 by Alex Leckie-Zaharic

With international gap years now off the market, and a lack of jobs available, about a thousand naive lads and lasses with nothing better to do have enrolled at Otago, boosting the total number of students back to pre-Covid levels.  The student numbers have risen by 952 students from last Read more...

Increased MIQ Fees for International Students

Posted 10:43pm Saturday 13th March 2021 by Erin Gourley

The 1000 international students allowed into New Zealand next month will pay increased MIQ fees. For temporary visa holders like international students, the cost of a one-person stay in managed isolation will increase from $3100 to $5520 on 25 March. These international students are required to Read more...

Students Obsessed With New Pyramid Scheme

Posted 10:33pm Saturday 13th March 2021 by Fox Meyer

The largest club on campus is now the Sign Up Club. Everyone so used to signing up or scanning in for Covid that there is now a club just for that. The club is formless and exists mostly as a Facebook page. But its numbers are rapidly growing. “We don’t want to overshadow Read more...

Mysterious Movie Being Made on Campus

Posted 10:24pm Saturday 13th March 2021 by Fox Meyer

There’s a movie being filmed on campus. Critic reached out to the Netflix production team of The Royal Treatment, who were unable to provide comment on their closed set.  Students saw a crew filming what appeared to be a market scene outside of Geology, complete with old-timey cars Read more...

Otago Uni’s Printing Costs the Highest in the Country

Posted 10:18pm Saturday 13th March 2021 by Denzel Chung

Students feeling the pain of forking out for yet another printing credit top-up can finally validate their hurt and trauma: Otago’s student printing costs are the highest of all Aotearoa’s universities. This year, Uniprint has hiked student’s printing costs by a staggering 33% Read more...

Otago Campus Christians Described As “Insular” and “Controversial”

Posted 10:12pm Saturday 13th March 2021 by Denzel Chung

“I lived across the street from the Campus Christians on Grange. They were weird, but not “bad weird.” They were just very exclusive, and I never saw a new face.” Kayla’s biggest problem with the Campus Christians was that they’ve “monopolised the Read more...

OPINION: Freshers, Stop Leaving the Game Early

Posted 6:33pm Saturday 6th March 2021 by Alex Leckie-Zaharic

Being born and raised in Dunedin, I’ve got a special place in my heart for the mighty Highlanders. I was there for their last game at Carisbrook over ten years ago, I watched as we lifted our first trophy in 2015. Since arriving at uni, I’ve been to almost every ‘Landers game at Read more...

Your Student Association is Hosting a Beerfest for JAFAs

Posted 6:20pm Saturday 6th March 2021 by Fox Meyer

The success of Dunedin’s annual Beerfest inspired OUSA to organise a similar event this year in Auckland, despite the potential danger of another lockdown.  The festival is planned for March 27 in the Spark Arena (formerly Vector Arena). With one ticket option you get Read more...

Police Presence Boosted at Flo and O

Posted 6:17pm Saturday 6th March 2021 by Denzel Chung

Police vans, as well as marked and unmarked police cars, regularly patrolled the Castle/Leith area during Flo and O Week, as early as 6pm. Critic can confirm that this wasn’t just a figment of boozed-up paranoia. There were actually more police than usual. On Big Red Finale night, two Read more...

Dunedinites Devotedly Down Dogs

Posted 6:09pm Saturday 6th March 2021 by Elliot Weir

Data from Regent St Night ‘n Day suggests students absolutely frothed $2 Hot Dogs during O Week. On the Tuesdays of Flo and O Week, Night ‘n Day sold over 600 hot dogs. During Slo Week (a term Critic has coined for the week before O and Flo Week), Night ‘n Day Regent sold an Read more...

Boutique Hotel Takes the L, Repurposed into Student Accommodation

Posted 6:01pm Saturday 6th March 2021 by Quintin Jane

Otago University has converted its Executive Residence boutique hotel into student accommodation for 2021.  The Executive Residence, also known as “that fancy house on Union Street East,” is now being managed by University College as a part of the University’s expansion of Read more...

Uni Smoothly Transitions to Level 2

Posted 5:57pm Saturday 6th March 2021 by Denzel Chung

The University’s response to recent yo-yoing between alert levels has not come under scrutiny from students. This is a far-cry from the student reaction during the first Covid outbreak. Critic spoke to Andrew Ferguson, the University’s Emergency and Business Continuity Coordinator, Read more...

Flat Break-Ins Rampant Over Flo and O

Posted 5:50pm Saturday 6th March 2021 by Denzel Chung

There’s been an increase in flat damage in the North Dunedin area over Flo and O Week.  Critic spoke to Lulu Gordon, a student whose flat got messed up on the final days of O Week. Lulu was in her lounge enjoying a post-bender Maccas feast with her flatties when a couple of Long Whites Read more...

The Greasy Beaver Lives to Beave Another Day

Posted 5:43pm Saturday 6th March 2021 by Erin Gourley

  The Greasy Beaver Lodge is back, baby. The famous flat sign was resurrected three weeks ago, after the tenants made a request to their property manager.  Annabelle, one of the current tenants, said that her flatmate emailed Cutlers over Christmas and said “it would make my Read more...

OUxit: Why some students leave OUSA

Posted 5:33pm Saturday 6th March 2021 by Runze Liu

Despite being the oldest, and one of the most influential students’ associations in the country, people still opt to leave the Otago Uni Students’ Association (OUSA). One of them — a third year student Otago student — opted out of OUSA membership in September last year by Read more...

OUSA Cancels Exec Meeting Because They Have Nothing to Talk About

Posted 5:17pm Saturday 6th March 2021 by Alex Leckie-Zaharic

The Exec meeting last week was cancelled because there was nothing on the agenda. In an email sent to members of the OUSA Exec February 26, the meeting scheduled for Monday was cancelled because there were only two agenda items. Both items had papers pending, preventing full discussion on either Read more...

Egg Sales Spike During O Week

Posted 5:13pm Saturday 6th March 2021 by Callan George

There was a “small spike in egg sales” during O Week, thanks to the long-held tradition of egging freshers. A Countdown spokesperson said that they saw “a small spike in egg sales at our Dunedin stores over Orientation Week”. However, they encourage people to think Read more...

Students Still Want Crossing, DCC Say They’re Working on It

Posted 5:01pm Saturday 6th March 2021 by Fox Meyer

The DCC will no longer confirm whether students will get an Albany Street pedestrian crossing. Last year, the DCC said it was “likely” in “late 2021.” A 2017 poll showed that more students supported the crossing (78.6%) than discounted Lime scooters (68.9%), or even Read more...

Dunedin Students Worried For Their Families in Myanmar

Posted 4:38pm Saturday 6th March 2021 by Aiman Amerul Muner

As the Myanmar Coup continues to unfold, students in Dunedin with deep ties to the Southeast Asian country can only watch and wait in fear. Two students from Myanmar spoke to Critic about the ongoing unrest. “It’s no longer safe for anyone to be outside, even if they’re heading Read more...

Otago Takes Three Years to Develop Climate Action Plan

Posted 2:23pm Saturday 6th March 2021 by Adam Currie

Otago Uni approved a Carbon Zero Programme in 2019, but did not hire a staff member to work on it until last month. The programme was first proposed in 2018. “The programme business case, including a road map to carbon zero, will be created approved and well underway by the end of Read more...

OUSA Apartments Generate Outrage

Posted 2:15pm Saturday 6th March 2021 by Denzel Chung

Your students’ association plans to turn the first floor of the University Bookshop into rental accommodation, and past Exec members are not happy about it. Two previous Exec members have questioned why a proposal rejected three times in the last five years was resurrected in Read more...

Tutors Receive a “Pay Cut By Stealth”

Posted 2:03pm Saturday 6th March 2021 by Erin Gourley

Some experienced tutors at the University of Otago will be paid less than they were last year. The change comes from a change to the requirements of the payscales for tutors and demonstrators.  Tutors who do not take on a role in organising the paper or co-ordinating other tutors will move Read more...

Med Entry Grades Rise Again

Posted 9:38pm Tuesday 2nd March 2021 by Erin Gourley

The average mark required to enter medicine from the Health Sciences First Year (HSFY) programme has increased for the sixth year in a row.  In response to an OIA, the University confirmed that the lowest average mark required for a first-round offer into 2021 med was 96.57%, up from 93.43% Read more...

Cops Still Don’t Get D&B, Gather Around Castle to Learn More

Posted 8:55pm Tuesday 2nd March 2021 by Alex Leckie-Zaharic

If you haven’t been permanently blinded by the flashing lights, sickly vape clouds, and freshers dancing like electrocuted cats along our favourite glass-paved party-street, you might have noticed the increased police presence during Flo and O-Week.  With cops lining either side of Read more...

Three Students Disciplined For Sexual Misconduct In 2020

Posted 8:42pm Tuesday 2nd March 2021 by Erin Gourley

A first-year student in 2020 was permanently excluded from the University of Otago after multiple sexual assaults against two students. This case, and three other allegations of sexual misconduct or assault, are detailed in the University’s Discipline Reports for 2020. Otago University Read more...

Nine Students Suspended For 2020 Flat Initiations

Posted 8:34pm Tuesday 2nd March 2021 by Erin Gourley

Two flats of students are unable to attend Otago in semester one because of flat initiations they organised at the end of 2020. The Proctor’s 2020 Discipline Report sets out the details of these initiations and the punishments students received. One flat initiation involved four second year Read more...

Neuron Scooters Hit Dunedin Streets

Posted 8:28pm Tuesday 2nd March 2021 by Denzel Chung

The battle of Dunedin’s e-scooters is well underway, with Singaporean company Neuron Mobility, Australia and NZ’s self-titled “leading rental e-scooter company,” heading into battle against Lime on Dunedin’s streets.   As well as their striking orange Read more...

BP Tormented By Shitposting Page

Posted 8:19pm Tuesday 2nd March 2021 by Sean Gourley

Shitposting page The boys are what has started a campaign to bring down international oil giant BP by tormenting them on Facebook. On 9 February, at 6.30pm, The boys are what opened their campaign with a post that said “good evening, fuck BP.”  Over following weeks, The boys are Read more...

Dangerous MDMA Substitutes in Dunedin

Posted 5:51pm Tuesday 2nd March 2021 by Erin Gourley

Up to 70% of drug samples tested in Dunedin have been found to contain eutolyne. Most of those samples were presumed by their users to be MDMA. Eutylone is a synthetic cathinone, part of a group of drugs also known as ‘bath salts.’ KnowYourStuffNZ’s testing during Christchurch O Read more...

Two in the Stink: University Adds Twin Share Rooms to Halls

Posted 5:44pm Tuesday 2nd March 2021 by Alex Leckie-Zaharic

In an effort to house two hundred more freshers than last year, the University has adopted an American college-comedy staple and added 11 twin rooms across multiple halls, including UniCol, Arana, and Aquinas.  In response to the influx of students, Stephen Willis, the Read more...

University Offering Online-Only Scholarships for International Students

Posted 5:37pm Tuesday 2nd March 2021 by Denzel Chung

The University of Otago is offering $10,000 scholarships for international students willing to start their first year completely online. The ‘Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship for International Students — Online’ offers a discount of $10,000 on tuition fees for international Read more...

Student Union Turns Landlord

Posted 5:25pm Tuesday 2nd March 2021 by Sean Gourley

Otago University Student’s Association (OUSA) is converting the space above University Book Shop, on Great King Street, into six separate apartments.  A resource consent from the DCC showed that OUSA will build three two-bedroom apartments and three one-bedroom apartments in the space. Read more...

77 Incidents of Flatmate Violence Last Year

Posted 5:02pm Tuesday 2nd March 2021 by Erin Gourley

The team at OUSA Student Support dealt with 77 incidents of flatmate violence during 2020.  According to Sage Burke, the manager of OUSA Student Support, this number was “about the same” as 2019. That number was “bad to start with,” and given that a lot of Read more...

Drug Safety Club Denied OUSA Affiliation

Posted 4:55pm Tuesday 2nd March 2021 by Fox Meyer

Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is not allowed to affiliate with OUSA. The Exec rejected their application on Thursday 18 February.  The rejection was based on a subclause in SSDP’s constitution that said that while the “social supply of drugs is discouraged”, it Read more...

Three Students Disciplined For Sexual Misconduct In 2020

Posted 4:26pm Wednesday 17th February 2021 by Erin Gourley

A first-year student in 2020 was permanently excluded from the University of Otago after multiple sexual assaults against two students. This case, and three other allegations of sexual misconduct or assault, are detailed in the University’s Discipline Reports for 2020. Otago University Read more...

Nine Students Suspended For 2020 Flat Initiations

Posted 12:38pm Wednesday 10th February 2021 by Erin Gourley

Two flats of students are unable to attend Otago in Semester One because of flat initiations they organised at the end of 2020. The Proctor’s 2020 Discipline Report sets out the details of these initiations and the punishments students received. One flat initiation involved four second year Read more...

Allegations of “Hostile, Toxic Bullying” Haunt Unsuccessful NZUSA President Election

Posted 2:27pm Monday 14th December 2020 by Sinead Gill

The position of 2021 President of NZUSA remains vacant after a reportedly “hostile” election full of “bullying” and “politicking” resulted in a stalemate between ITP (Intitute of Technology and Polytechnics) candidate, Andrew Lessells, and university Read more...

Batshit Crazy Mother Fucker Nathan Laurie

Posted 12:20pm Friday 20th November 2020 by Fibi Barkman

It’s been a year and a half with President Nathan Laurie in the hot seat of the Otago Polytechnic Students Association. He described himself as a “batshit crazy motherfucker” no less than 8 separate times throughout the interview, but in reality he is a careful, if not Read more...

OP Students Meet Your New El Presidente

Posted 3:05pm Thursday 5th November 2020 by Fibi Barkman

87 Otago Polytechnic students voted for the one and only option in the recent Otago Polytechnic Students’ Association (OPSA) presidential election: Level 3 Foundations student Ezra “Ewok” Tamati. Critic caught up with him on a rainy afternoon in the Hub to get to know him, and to Read more...

OPSA Decision on NZUSA Deferred Until November

Posted 2:36pm Thursday 29th October 2020 by Fibi Barkman

Otago Polytechnic students have voted to defer the decision on whether or not to join NZUSA for a month, to allow for an information session on what NZUSA actually is. OPSA President Nathan Laurie put the question of if OPSA should rejoin NZUSA at their special general meeting (SGM) on October Read more...

OUSA Sends Letter Following Associate Membership Rejection

Posted 2:11pm Thursday 29th October 2020 by Sinead Gill

OUSA has circulated a letter to NZUSA’s National Executive following their rejected application for associate membership status. They want NZUSA to improve it’s application process and include a means to appeal decisions made at the National Executive. The OUSA Exec applied for Read more...

Fire and Circus Club Disaffiliated After Investigation

Posted 12:19pm Thursday 29th October 2020 by Sinead Gill

OUSA has disaffiliated the Dunedin Fire and Circus Club (DFCC), citing a breach of rules around student numbers in the club.  The investigation into the DFCC began in July, when members of the club raised concerns about the ratio of students to non-students, as well as concerns about Read more...

Otago Polytechnic Students’ Association May Rejoin NZUSA

Posted 4:11pm Friday 16th October 2020 by Fibi Barkman

The Otago Polytechnic Students’ Association (OPSA) is considering rejoining the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA). Otago Polytech students will be voting on whether or not to join at their special general meeting (SGM) next Wednesday.  Currently, only five of Read more...

Everyone on Campus Can Get Weed

Posted 7:33pm Sunday 4th October 2020 by Fox Meyer

Critic asked 34 students: if your life absolutely depended on it, could you suss weed within the hour? Every single person, bar one, said yes. However, Critic would like to point out that that single “no” could’ve asked any one of the other 33 people in the room. Every single Read more...

Students Struggling to Find Employment

Posted 7:31pm Sunday 4th October 2020 by Naomii Seah

Students are struggling to find jobs this summer. This may be related to the oncoming recession. 79.7% of students who responded to Critic’s online survey said that they were finding it harder than usual to find a job. Only 32.7% of respondents had actually found a summer job, compared to Read more...

New Scholarship Money for International Postgrads

Posted 7:30pm Sunday 4th October 2020 by Fox Meyer

A new scholarship appeared on the University’s website this week that would provide $10,000 in tuition fees towards one year of study for select international postgrad students. The Otago International Excellence Scholarship aims to support “high-achieving” students who are Read more...

Scarfie Weather First to Predict Snowfall

Posted 7:29pm Sunday 4th October 2020 by Fox Meyer

After announcing his departure from campus, Scarfie Weather was back online last Thursday (24 September) with a hot take: “I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw snow on Tuesday down to sea level, throughout Southland and Southern Otago.” The independent weatherman said of his Read more...

The Single Most Interesting Point from Each Exec Report

Posted 7:28pm Sunday 4th October 2020 by Erin Gourley

The OUSA Exec have to write reports about what they have done in each quarter of the year in order to continue being paid. This is a review of the best paragraph of each third quarterly report from the 2020 Exec.   President Jack Manning “This quarter has gone by about as fast as Read more...

We Harvested Your Data and Are Selling it Online

Posted 7:25pm Sunday 4th October 2020 by Fox Meyer

Oopsies, we’re reporting on politics. Can’t help but engage with a good bit of data. We polled students on the Dunedin Electorate, seeing as that’s where the majority of students live. Sorry, Taieri. We know students live there too. In the past, I’ve tried to show that Read more...

Most Predictable OUSA Election in Years

Posted 7:23pm Sunday 4th October 2020 by Erin Gourley

Michaela Waite-Harvey won the OUSA presidency convincingly. The results were announced in the Main Common Room last Thursday. There are five current Exec members continuing on in their roles or taking new positions in the 2021 Exec. Michaela is moving up from Welfare and Equity Representative to Read more...

OPINION: All Students Should be Eligible for Another Grade Bump

Posted 7:22pm Sunday 4th October 2020 by Naomii Seah

Wednesday 12 August, 2020. A new Covid-19 community cluster is found in Auckland, and New Zealand is faced with the prospect of another lockdown. Thankfully, only Auckland actually faced another Level 3. However, immediately after the announcement, I found myself once again on Zoom calls, once again Read more...

Jack’s Off: An Exit Interview

Posted 7:21pm Sunday 4th October 2020 by Caroline Moratti

After one year in the top job, Jack Manning is preparing to leave the role. On December 31 he is out of the desk, and into the lion's den of life. The OUSA President sat down with Critic in his small, intimate office to talk about life, love, chicken satay and everything in between. Jack Read more...

ExamSoft Flagged 80% of Exams for Review Last Sem

Posted 7:20pm Sunday 4th October 2020 by Erin Gourley

6670 out of the 8188 exams conducted on ExamSoft were “flagged for review” in Sem One. ExamSoft was the remote invigilating software used for all of the Health Sci exams and some Accounting papers. 87 students had their grades delayed as a result of the ExamSoft review process. The Read more...

The Capping Show Lives to See Another Audience

Posted 7:19pm Sunday 4th October 2020 by Sophia Carter Peters

Against all odds, The Capping Show has returned for its 126th year, yeeting the bar for student sketch comedy into the stratosphere. This year’s show, Flatatouille, followed a rat named Remy who just wanted to be one of the lads, and a flat’s toil against an evil landlord, culminating Read more...

OUSA Gives Club of the Year to the Club that Stole Winnie P Signs

Posted 7:15pm Sunday 4th October 2020 by Fox Meyer

The same club that got in trouble for stealing NZ First election hoardings has won Club of the Year at the Blues and Golds Awards for 2020. Otago University Snow Sports Club took home the teensy-tiny trophy and promptly started drinking from it. “OUSSC held several fun, safe, and Read more...

Wet Ass Phreshers

Posted 5:00pm Sunday 4th October 2020 by Fox Meyer

Last week, a mate and I were peacefully eating curry at Taj Mahal. Two hours later we were drinking alongside a gaggle of well-suited, piss-drunk first years, taking shelter from the midnight rain under a Leith Street bridge. Critic returned to the bridge to find out how this culture started, and Read more...

Māori Voices and Leadership Devalued and Disempowered, Says Pretty Much Every Student Union in New Zealand

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 27th September 2020 by Jamie Mactaggart

Te Mana Ākonga, the national Māori students association, is calling for a review of the tertiary sector following recent accusations of “systemic and structural racism, discrimination, marganalisation and institutional gaslighting” at the Universities of Waikato and Read more...

Critic Breaks Down the OUSA President Debates

Posted 2:57pm Sunday 27th September 2020 by Erin Gourley

The OUSA presidential campaigns kicked off with a night-time forum at Starters last Tuesday, followed by a daytime debate the next day. The two candidates, Sammy Bergen and Michaela Waite-Harvey, are similar in their political views but they insist that they both offer different things to students. Read more...

Otago University Postgrad Association Responds to Potential Abbey College Closure

Posted 2:54pm Sunday 27th September 2020 by Annabelle Vaughan

The Otago University Postgraduate Students Association (OPA) have responded to the proposal to turn Abbey College from a postgraduate to an undergraduate hall with an open letter to staff and University officials. Students have been asked to leave by 15 November. The open letter, which was Read more...

Jack Manning Nominated University Management for Life Membership

Posted 9:54pm Thursday 24th September 2020 by Erin Gourley

Jack Manning nominated two senior University employees for life membership of OUSA. In his statement nominating Stephen Willis and David Thomson for life membership, Jack acknowledged that he was “somewhat bucking the trend of not nominating current University staff”. Both nominees Read more...

Baby Politicians Try to Be Cool and Relatable For Your OUSA Vote

Posted 9:53pm Thursday 24th September 2020 by Erin Gourley

The debate for the 20-hour OUSA positions took place in the Main Common Room last Wednesday at 12pm. The sound of microphone feedback was in the air, and the candidates debated in front of a backdrop of 1980s MTV videos. Hosts Kayli Taylor from Radio One and Caroline Moratti from that annoying Read more...

Court Case Argues Med Admissions Were Unlawful and Discriminatory

Posted 5:53pm Wednesday 23rd September 2020 by Erin Gourley

A court case against the University of Otago claims that the Uni unlawfully admitted students who did not meet the minimum requirements to enter med school. According to the statement of claim, these students were admitted to medicine through the Mirror on Society (MoS) preferential entry pathway Read more...

No Rivals for Four OUSA Candidates

Posted 5:19pm Sunday 20th September 2020 by Erin Gourley

Four candidates for the 2021 OUSA Exec will face no competition at their upcoming election. Josh Meikle is the only person running for Finance and Strategy Officer, Maya Polaschek is the only person running for Welfare and Equity Representative, Sophie Barham is the only person running for Postgrad Read more...

Telehealth Could Become Standard at Student Health

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 20th September 2020 by Naomii Seah

At Alert Level 2, Student Health has been operating under a modified system, relying on “telehealth,” or phone-call appointments to supplement in-person ones. The telehealth appointments last the same length of time as an in-person appointment, and cost the same. To receive an Read more...

Starters 1, Landlords 0

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 20th September 2020 by Sophia Carter Peters

Starters Bar has been granted later opening hours by the DCC, and will now be able to serve alcohol until 3am. Following the controversy surrounding the President of the Otago Property Investors’ Associations (OPIA) outspoken call to arms in the ODT, the new hours are a victory for Starters Read more...

Luke Schneider No Longer Lecturing at UC

Posted 5:10pm Sunday 20th September 2020 by Erin Gourley

Luke Schneider, the Senior Lecturer who made controversial posts about beneficiaries and Covid-19 on Quora, is no longer lecturing at the University of Canterbury. It appears that he is still working for the University as a researcher. The change comes after Schneider’s controversial posts Read more...

“Kai Ora” Gate: Med School Dean Misspells Kia Ora

Posted 5:06pm Sunday 20th September 2020 by Erin Gourley

The Dean of the Medical School misspelt the words kia ora while sending out an email about the legal challenge to the Mirror on Society Policy. Med students have dubbed the incident “kai ora-gate”. The Dean, Professor Rathan Subramaniam, “apologises unreservedly for the Read more...

Otago Students Became Nerds in Lockdown

Posted 5:03pm Sunday 20th September 2020 by Erin Gourley

Turns out that students didn’t even need the Covid-19 grade bump to pass their papers. The pass rate in Semester One this year, even before the grade bump, was just 0.1% lower than the Sem One in 2019 - from 84.4% to 84.3%. The grade bump increased all Semester One final grades by 5 Read more...

Decriminalisation and Decolonisation

Posted 5:01pm Sunday 20th September 2020 by Naomii Seah

“What’s up with that taniwha Judith Collins being chill with the current discriminating laws when she herself has admitted to trying weed? Oh wait, racism, that’s right.” Judith Collins joins Helen Clark, Phil Goff and many other New Zealanders in carrying on New Read more...

Student Group Forces Ravensdown to Care About the Environment

Posted 5:07pm Sunday 13th September 2020 by Erin Gourley

Ravensdown, the giant fertiliser factory on the Dunedin waterfront, applied to stop reporting on their emissions and then dropped the application after a student group said “nah we’d like you to keep telling us about the levels of chemicals that could create acid Read more...

50% of Sexual Misconduct Investigations at Otago Not Upheld

Posted 5:03pm Sunday 13th September 2020 by Erin Gourley

There have been just six formal investigations under the University’s new Sexual Misconduct Policy, which took effect in May 2019. Only two of those investigations found that sexual misconduct was proven, according to an Official Information Act request provided to Critic. The policy Read more...

Opinion: I’m Exhausted, Please Extend Semester and Mid-Semester Breaks

Posted 5:00pm Sunday 13th September 2020 by Caroline Moratti

Having only a week for a mid-semester break feels like some kind of cruel, sick joke. A week? What is this, a mid-semester break for ants? A week barely gives you enough time to catch up on coursework, let alone give you any time to take some time off and, you know, have a break. Even worse, Read more...

An Explanation of North v South

Posted 4:58pm Sunday 13th September 2020 by Oscar Paul

On Saturday 5 September, at 7.10pm, amidst a new lockdown plan, political campaigns, uni assignments and figuring out what to send to your new Tinder match, life decided to give New Zealand a bit of a stress reliever. While every other country has gone and gotten Covid-19, NZ is blessed with a great Read more...

Exec Asks Pointless Question About Moana Pool

Posted 4:49pm Sunday 13th September 2020 by Erin Gourley

The OUSA Executive are asking students whether there should be a student discount at Moana Pool - but the discount already exists. The question will go to students as question six in the OUSA Referendum this week, from 15 to 17 September. OUSA Finance and Strategy Officer Josh Meikle pointed out Read more...

Local Student Discovers Cave

Posted 4:48pm Sunday 13th September 2020 by Jack Gilmore

On a recent Anthropology field trip, a Dunedin student named Barney Connoly found a rock shelter (crepuscular) that is believed to have been used by both gold miners and local iwi. The cave was found up a “steep-ish” cliff about 15 kilometres away from Cromwell in a hilly part of Read more...

Jack Manning Drops Everything to Give Winston Peters a Tour

Posted 4:45pm Sunday 13th September 2020 by Erin Gourley

OUSA President Jack Manning skipped a meeting for Pūtea Tautoko, the University’s student hardship fund, to give Winston Peters a tour of campus. He has apologised for the “clear misplacement of priorities” in making that decision. “I apologise to any student who Read more...

Jack Brazil Posters May Be Illegal

Posted 4:40pm Sunday 13th September 2020 by Sinead Gill

The Electoral Commission are investigating whether posters of the Dunedin Green Party candidate’s face are an illegal election advertisement, after several complaints. Other Dunedin electorate candidates have called these posters “a slap in the face” and “reprehensibly Read more...

Student Events Cancelled by Covid

Posted 4:34pm Sunday 13th September 2020 by Kaiya Cherrington

The announcement of Alert Level 2 throughout August and September has disrupted popular student events. These occasions are usually marked on the calendar and widely looked forward to, but they haven’t been able to occur with numbers limited to 100 people. Event organisers have struggled to Read more...

Students Less Likely to Vote if Exam Remains on Election Day

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 13th September 2020 by Sinead Gill

Students who have an exam on election day said they were less likely to vote than if their exam was on another day. On 17 October, the day of the New Zealand General Election, Otago Uni has scheduled 37 exams, affecting a total of 1530 students. The exam timetable was released a week after the Read more...

Castle Street’s “Most Notorious” Flat Evicted with $34,000 Tab

Posted 4:30pm Sunday 13th September 2020 by Fox Meyer

A group of students were evicted from their Castle Street flat and are now being pursued for an impressive $34,000 in the Tenancy Tribunal. Critic spoke to Tom, one of the tenants, to find out how he managed to get evicted. Diagon Alley, the flat he and his mates rented earlier this year, Read more...

41 UniFlats Dropped for 2021

Posted 10:32pm Thursday 3rd September 2020 by Fox Meyer

The University will be “relinquishing” the leases to 41 UniFlats at the end of the year, due to the (extremely likely) decrease in international student numbers for 2021. “As the number of international students is predicted to drop next year because of the pandemic, UniFlats Read more...

Starters Criticised By Landlord They Thought They Could Trust

Posted 10:31pm Thursday 3rd September 2020 by Fox Meyer

Despite her promise to “ensure a safer environment for students” under the Sophia Charter, the President of the Otago Property Investors’ Association (OPIA) spoke out against an extension to Starters Bar’s hours in the ODT. She said that as she did not comment as OPIA, Read more...

OUSA Club Steals Political Signage and Receives Death Threats

Posted 10:30pm Thursday 3rd September 2020 by Fox Meyer

An OUSA-affiliated club is in conversations with the Proctor this week after removing roadside political hoardings while driving an OUSA-marked van. A Lawrentian man called the police on the club, and they stopped the van outside Roxburgh to recover the signs from the students. The students in Read more...

OUSA Sexual Misconduct Policy in Final Stages

Posted 10:28pm Thursday 3rd September 2020 by Naomii Seah

OUSA has finally developed their sexual misconduct policy, following allegations of sexual abuse within OUSA in 2009, and again in OUSA affiliated clubs in 2019 and 2020. The policy, which began development in 2019, is now in its final stages. It aims to achieve “a process to ensure Read more...

Cook’s Beer Back from the Dead

Posted 10:27pm Thursday 3rd September 2020 by Fox Meyer

Scurvy has long been lurking in the shadows of society; a ghost hanging over the heads of malnourished 2nd years. In 2016, the sailing disease was reported to be making a comeback, and in 2017 1 NEWS revealed that one in 10 New Zealanders over 50 were at risk of scurvy. Think about how many days Read more...

CRONCH CRONCH CRONCH Goes The Link

Posted 10:26pm Thursday 3rd September 2020 by Sinead Gill

Otago Uni and Frucor Suntory have collaborated to gift students with a reverse vending machine in the Link. The reverse vending machine recycles cans and plastic bottles in exchange for a voucher discounting a Frucor (who produce energy drinks and RTD coffee) product on campus. Both the Uni and Read more...

One Brave Student Asks Two Questions in OUSA’s Referendum

Posted 10:25pm Thursday 3rd September 2020 by Erin Gourley

Just one student submitted questions for OUSA’s referendum this semester. That one student submitted two questions to OUSA, questions 5 and 6, and the questions are about swimming and podcasting, respectively. Georgia Mischefski-Gray, OUSA’s Administrative Vice President, said that Read more...

Opinion: Give Me Coffee in the Late Afternoon

Posted 10:24pm Thursday 3rd September 2020 by Caroline Moratti

Coffee should be available past 3pm. Hell, it should be available at any time of night but I’m not sure y’all are ready to hear that yet. If you want to get out of your grungy flat and meet a friend, you get a coffee. Want a study break? You get a coffee. You want somewhere nice and Read more...