Archive

“Business As Usual” OUSA Budget Dropped

Posted 10:10pm Saturday 4th October 2025 by Nina Brown

OUSA’s budget for 2026 has dropped. You might read “budget” and feel your eyes glaze over. But just as your budget is crucial to stretching StudyLink payments across keeping a roof over your head, avoiding scurvy, and storing away a little extra for barista-made treats or a box on Read more...

Fitzy’s DJ Decks and a Dream

Posted 10:08pm Saturday 4th October 2025 by Stella Weston

As exam season looms, OUSA hosted their Future DJ Competition to refocus on what's really important to students: loud sounds in a club. Hosted in collaboration with George FM and Catacombs, the event boasted an impressive array of prizes intended to help kickstart DJ careers, from festival sets Read more...

‘Dental for All’ Roadshow Hits Ōtepoti

Posted 10:05pm Saturday 4th October 2025 by Molly Smith-Soppet

The Dental for All campaign has kicked off with a nationwide roadshow, stopping in towns and cities all across the motu to push for one thing: free, universal dental care. Last Rāhina, the group cruised into Ōtepoti to run a forum at the OUSA Clubs and Socs building. Guest panelists Read more...

Ammonita Have Brought the Noise

Posted 10:00pm Saturday 4th October 2025 by Gryffin Blockley

OUSA’s annual band competition, Bring the Noise, wrapped up its seventh iteration at U-Bar last week. Presented by Radio One, the competition involved two heats and a final where Ōtepoti bands battled head-to-head, playing only original songs. Last Wednesday, Ammonita took out the title Read more...

Heavy Breathers Continue to Run (Away From Critic)

Posted 12:47am Monday 29th September 2025 by Tilly Rumball-Smith

The Heavy Breathers completed the Emerson’s Dunedin Marathon on the 14th of September. A marathon is a long way. Pretty tiring stuff. So tiring that they couldn’t be fucked being interviewed about it for this article. Fair enough. The Heavy Breathers began in 2023: 33 boys who raised Read more...

POLSA Debate Team Says Scarfie Culture is Out

Posted 12:17am Monday 29th September 2025 by Nina Brown

Should Scarfie culture be officially recognised as intangible cultural heritage? Three Greens politicians, Mickey Treadwell, Francisco Hernandez and Rosie Finnie, think yes. But in a debate hosted by the Otago Politics Students Association (POLSA) at the Business School on Friday September 19, three Read more...

IVY Confused for ‘SoundCloud Rapper’

Posted 11:13pm Sunday 28th September 2025 by Gryffin Blockley

Fresh off the heels of their debut album ‘Hush’, Ōtepoti five-piece IVY encountered a bump in the road during their album promotion. Early on the 20th of September, just eight days after the album drop, a new single appeared on their Spotify profile: DIE ALONE. To the dismay of Read more...

Housing For All: Yarns with Tamatha Paul and Co.

Posted 11:10pm Sunday 28th September 2025 by Via Hooks

It’s the time of year when flatting is on the mind. Whether you’re sorting out next year's lease, continually tidying the communal spaces ahead of flat viewings, or frantically trying to assemble the perfect group to live – it’s top of the to-do list for many tauira. It Read more...

Critical Tribune: University declares state of emergency as brainrot spreads across campus

Posted 11:01pm Sunday 28th September 2025 by Gear Sloppit

The University of Ota-goon has announced an Official State of Emergency after a “catastrophic outbreak” of brainrot left hundreds of students unable to form original sentences, instead communicating exclusively through TikTok sounds and vintage Tumblr quotes. In a press conference Read more...

OUSA Made Breatha Again

Posted 3:08pm Friday 26th September 2025 by Gryffin Blockley

With the highest voter turnout in years, OUSA’s 2026 Executive Election concluded last Thursday. Just over 2300 votes were cast in a chaotic campaign period that saw a barrage of social media posts, chalking, and posters around campus. After snagging 52.45% of the votes, Daniel Leamy is your Read more...

Law’s (Objectively) Hardest 200-Level Paper Goes Open Book

Posted 6:35pm Sunday 21st September 2025 by Gabe Jonson

In second-year Law, students are put through the wringer with four full-year papers: Criminal Law, Law of Contract, Property Law, and Public Law. Usually, the exams are closed-book, but for 2025 LAWS203 (Property Law) is now set to be an open-book exam.  The Faculty of Law cites the change Read more...

Thursdays in Black Hosts ‘What I Was Wearing’ Exhibit

Posted 5:59pm Sunday 21st September 2025 by Hanna Varrs

Content Warning: Sexual violence, child sexual abuse, rape, intimate partner violence Following their recent success in the second annual Sex Quiz fundraiser, the Thursdays in Black exec held the What I Was Wearing exhibit in the Main Common Room last week between Wednesday and Read more...

Rail Jam: Bringing the Ski Slope and the Stoke onto Campus

Posted 5:57pm Sunday 21st September 2025 by Jonathan McCabe

The forecasts were true. It was a snowy day on Union lawn last Thursday. Yeehaw! Twenty two tonnes of snow landed on Union Lawn on Thursday the 18th of September ready for punters to carve some fresh lines in the midst of a bustling campus. There was no better chance for ski bums to prove why Read more...

Alumni Fly From Afar to Settle 20-Year-Old Boozy Bet

Posted 5:55pm Sunday 21st September 2025 by Nina Brown

Born out of a drunken argument over who was slower, Otago alumni Blake Plummer and Jolyon Swinburn agreed to race in a marathon at age 40. The boys cracked open a cold one as they told Critic Te Ārohi the story of a 20-year-old bet that brought them back to their alma mater for the Read more...

Castle Packs out for Pizza Eating Comp

Posted 5:50pm Sunday 21st September 2025 by Zoe Eckhoff

Suburbia has extended their dominance over students’ Saturday nights into the following day by hosting a Biggies Pizza (Sub’s day-time persona) eating competition on Sunday, September 13th. Hosted at the infamous Courtyard flat, roughly 21 nominees from various Castle St flats attempted Read more...

Fiery Exec Campaigns “Healthy Democracy”

Posted 9:27pm Thursday 18th September 2025 by Nina Brown

It’s election season for the OUSA Executive. With 20 candidates vying for a position in 2026, three lunch-time forums were held last week to provide the opportunity for candidates to share their policies. Knowing most students don’t have the capacity to sit through six hours of Read more...

Critical Tribune: EMERGENCY: Snow Forecast for Union Lawn Microclimate as 36 Tonnes of Snow Scheduled to Arrive this Thursday

Posted 1:34pm Monday 15th September 2025 by Petra Barfy

Panic sweeps through the University of Otago campus this week after meteorologists issued an unprecedented forecast predicting “localized blizzard conditions” for Union Lawn, where a sudden 36-tonne snowfall is expected to bury the area on September 18. The snowstorm, strangely absent Read more...

100 Dancers Storm the TCol Stage

Posted 1:16pm Monday 15th September 2025 by Molly Smith-Soppet

Otago Dance Association (ODA) are tumbling headfirst down the rabbit hole this month with the crowning jewel of the club: their annual showcase. Mark your calendars for the 26th and 27th of September when 108(ish) students will take the stage. This year, the performance is a stage-adaptation of Read more...

Otago’s Campus Celebrates 50 Years of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori

Posted 1:09pm Monday 15th September 2025 by Gryffin Blockley

Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori has reached its golden jubilee, celebrating 50 years of advocating for Aotearoa’s native language. This year's byline is ‘ake ake ake’ – a forever language. It’s a huge occasion for pride and community-building for many on the University Read more...

Background Checking Wanna-be Mayors

Posted 1:02pm Monday 15th September 2025 by Nina Brown

If you’ve gone on a cruise out of town lately, you’ll have clocked the shocking array of roadside billboards begging for that sweet democratic #1 ranking. Last week, OUSA hosted the candidates for the upcoming local body elections in a series of forums, held in the Main Common Room at Read more...