Archive

Recreation Centre facelift lacks actual lift

Posted 1:24pm Sunday 19th May 2013 by Jack Montgomerie

OUSA’s $1.7 million renovation of its Recreation Centre building (formerly Clubs and Socs) is set to give students a more modern, functional space for activities. However, one of its services will remain off-limits to some disabled students. After a consultation process including user surveys Read more...

Ferguson finally fucks off

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Sam McChesney

The big news in sport over the last week has been the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United. We’ve been here before – Ferguson announced his retirement at the start of 2002 only to perform a U-turn at the end of the season – but this time it’s for realsies. Ferguson’s Read more...

Police render point-proving tactics irrelephant

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Staff Reporter

An elephant was discovered in the Critic office last Thursday. The elephant appeared in the room while the Critic staff were writing that week’s news. It is unclear what the elephant’s motives were. The elephant was eventually removed by the police, and has declined to comment on the incident. Read more...

ODT exposes exposer

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Zane Pocock

Last Tuesday 7 May, the ODT published their best article of the year. Entitled “Dunedin teen shakes bare bottom at police,” the 64-word piece exposes a 17-year-old Dunedin man who “allegedly [shook] his bare bottom at police officers while standing in the middle of Eglinton Rd.” Here, Critic aims to Read more...

Justice Davani

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Claudia Herron

The 17th New Zealand Law Foundation Ethel Benjamin Commemorative Address was given by Justice Catherine Davani, of the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court, on 8 May. Her thought-provoking talk in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery touched on the pressure to repeal sorcery laws in PNG. A recent, Read more...

Government throws more money at research

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Bella Macdonald

Otago University is hoping to get their hands on a chunk of the Government’s $73.5 million budget for research purposes following the announcement of 10 National Science Challenges. The budget was announced on 1 May by John Key and will be added to last year’s $60 million budget to fund these Read more...

A degree from Otago might just get you a job

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Josie Cochrane

The 2013 QS World University Rankings by Subject have been released, with Otago ranked among the top 100 institutions in the world in 12 subject areas. Psychology, History and Archaeology, English Language and Literature, and Law also placed in the top 50. Professor Harlene Hayne, Vice Read more...

Cardboard swords slay selwyn’s hordes

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Jack Montgomerie

Selwyn College’s residents flogged one of their favourite dead horses last Wednesday afternoon when they took over the Clocktower lawn for the annual Lindski Battle. A dozen ex-residents were pitted against more than 100 Selwyn “knights” and “nurses” in the annual pacifist skirmish. The Read more...

Dunedin – New Zealand’s Detroit

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Jamie Breen

Students are to Dunedin what Instagram is to a tween: #important. Or, as the ODT wittily put it, Dunedin is New Zealand’s Detroit, if postgraduate and international student numbers are compared to car manufacturers: lose them and the economy loses, too. University of Otago lecturer Paul Read more...

Lama drama harms Cull’s karma

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Jack Montgomerie

Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull has retracted what he calls a “dismissive and unnecessary slight” he made against the Dalai Lama, but still will not meet him when he visits Dunedin on 11 June. After describing the Lama as “the leader of a minority sect” last week, Cull now says that the community Read more...

World record attempts

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Bella Macdonald

Otago University students are in the running to break 10 world records during Re-Orientation Week at an event organised by OUSA. Students who are interested in breaking records have submitted their record idea to OUSA, who have then gone on to co-ordinate with Guinness World Records. So far, Read more...

Too many cats hanging out at Murray’s

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Josie Cochrane

At least six pet cats have been found dead, some hung from trees, at Navy Park in South Dunedin. The ongoing suspicious deaths have occurred since December 2012, with the latest cat being found on Saturday 27 April of this year. Senior Constable Ruth Parsons says, “We’ve had this sort of Read more...

The Wicked Witches of Union Street East

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Bella Macdonald

Abby Howells (Left) and Caitlin McNaughton (Right) are directing 2013’s Wizard of Oz-themed Capping Show, which kicks off this Wednesday. Bella Macdonald interviewed them during one of their nightly rehearsals. What do you see as the purpose of the Capping Show? Caitlin: I guess it was Read more...

“Everyone a winner at Uni Games”

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Gus Gawn

Team Otago reclaimed the University Shield at the Uni Games held in Dunedin two weeks ago. Otago boasted the largest team at the 2013 event with 142 competitors, and made their numerical advantage count by collecting the most points and taking out the shield. Prior to the games it had been Read more...

Ex-Critic editor puts up pointless, doomed bill

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Jack Montgomerie

Green Party list MP Holly Walker has introduced a Private Member’s Bill for the next ballot at Parliament, which aims to reinstate student allowances for postgraduate students. However, with little hope of majority support, the bill appears to be purely symbolic. In 2012, the government Read more...

Shit students help students in the shit

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Josie Cochrane

Figures recently released by the University of Otago show that misconduct cost students $14,860 in 2012. This is up 40% from 2011, when total fines issued by the Proctor were $10,670 for the year. The increase has occurred despite a decrease in the number of misbehaving students from 136 in 2011 to Read more...

He’s Dunne it again

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Claudia Herron

Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne has come out of leftfield and banned a further two substances, both found in the popular synthetic cannabis brand K2. The totally unprecedented move by Dunne will see a Temporary Class Drug Notice issued on BB-22 and 5F-AKB48, bringing the total number of Read more...

Colmar Brunton says 80% of students keen to work for free

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Thomas Raethel

Student Job Search is set to introduce a trial “unpaid” section from June this year, after widespread enthusiasm for volunteer work was expressed by students around the country. A Colmar Brunton poll commissioned by Studylink last year revealed that 80% of students interviewed expressed interest in Read more...

Apps to make sad kids ‘appy

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Jack Montgomerie

A texting blob, a digital bin in which to put feelings, and a site full of videos to cheer kids up won the Dunedin round of the Lifehack competition last Sunday evening. Lifehack (not to be confused with the website explaining how to “Make Your Own Fresh Home Fragrances”) is an organisation that the Read more...

Critic culls Cull

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Zane Pocock

Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull has refused to partake in a debate with legal high lobbyist Grant Hall after calling for consumers to boycott businesses that sell synthetic cannabis products. While defending his position, Cull alluded to a fear that his opponent-to-be had been “imbibing a bit much,” in a Read more...