Archive

“I’ve changed,” Sobs Veggie Boy in Teary Tell All Interview

Posted 4:54pm Sunday 30th May 2021 by Fox Meyer

The cheapest coffee in town will now cost more than a coin, as Veggie Boys raises its price by a dollar. A regular is now $3, and a large comes in at $4. The price increase comes during a change of management. Supreet, the new manager at Veggie Boys, told Radio One that the previous owners Read more...

Peace-loving Professor Pans Parliamentarian for Lukewarm Take on KILLER ROBOTS

Posted 4:51pm Sunday 30th May 2021 by Adam Currie

Last Wednesday, Hon Phil Twyford gave a lecture on disarmament in Archway Two. It was mostly attended by politics nerds and mature students. Twyford is the Government's Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control.  Twyford spent most of the time talking about his work to stop “killer Read more...

National Coordinator of Thursdays in Black: SHOCK RESIGNATION

Posted 4:49pm Sunday 30th May 2021 by Erin Gourley

The Coordinator of Thursdays in Black Aotearoa, Jahla Tran-Lawrence, has resigned. Thursdays in Black Aotearoa will have a by-election on 17 June to find a new leader. Thursdays in Black is a student-run campaign that aims to prevent and respond to sexual harm in universities and polytechs in Read more...

ECONOMIC LIPOFILLING: Landlords Rub Hands Together With Glee and Lick Lips Lasciviously at 2022 Riches as Jacinda and Grant Let Loose the MONEY PUMP

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 30th May 2021 by Sean Gourley

Student allowances are set to increase by $25 in April 2022. Most students can be confident that this change will see a similar rise in rent across most of Dunedin.  The average increase in rent for next year appears to be between $10 and $20 per person, according to the students interviewed Read more...

Transphobic Leaflets Left by Losers SLAMMED by Literally Everyone Who Isn’t a Twisted Far Right LOONY

Posted 4:33pm Sunday 30th May 2021 by Erin Gourley

Over the past few weeks, transphobic pamphlets have been appearing on noticeboards around campus.  One student has reported the pamphlets to Critic Te Arohi twice. Both times, the pamphlets were put up on the Hunter Centre noticeboard. On May 12 they said “we noticed some rather gross Read more...

Tutes and Dems Plead Poverty, But Will It Fall Upon DEAF EARS From RUTHLESS NEOLIBERAL UNIVERSITY?

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 30th May 2021 by Fox Meyer

The Otago Tutors and Demonstrators Network has collected a lot of data. It found a lot of things — namely that most tutes and dems think they aren’t paid enough. The Uni changed the payscale for these positions, so pay now depends on commitment to the paper, not prior experience or Read more...

Clocktower SILENT During Super Duper Blood Moon, Panned for Refusing to Take a Stance

Posted 4:14pm Sunday 30th May 2021 by Alex Leckie-Zaharic

There was trouble in paradise on Wednesday as the clocktower failed to chime for most of the day. To the dismay of the student population, the clocktower’s ringing was absent on the eve of the super blood moon. Built in 1879, the bongs of the clocktower have graced the ears of hundreds of Read more...

Study SLATED as Bullshit by Demented Grad Students

Posted 4:09pm Sunday 30th May 2021 by Fox Meyer

A study released last week surveyed 4,499 Kiwi students to see if their mental health got worse when they worked on their PhDs. The data said: no, their mental health was not affected. “You’ve gotta be fuckin’ kidding me, right?” asked Dan, a fourth-year. “Is that Read more...

North Dunedin Pests Targeted In New Research Project

Posted 4:02pm Sunday 30th May 2021 by Denzel Chung

City Sanctuary volunteers have been installing backyard traps in student flats on Castle and Leith, as part of a research project investigating attitudes towards community trapping in Dunedin.  Critic Te Arohi joined Kate and Toby, two volunteers, as they installed their 27th trap of the day Read more...

Protest! Dunedinites Show Up in Support of Palestine

Posted 3:32pm Sunday 30th May 2021 by Aiman Amerul Muner

Amidst chanting and handmade protest signs, Rawaa Elhanafy made her point clear: “From the land to the sea, Palestine Will Be Free.”  Rawaa, a third-year Pharmacy student, was one of the organisers of the Dunedin March for Palestine. She and hundreds of others marched down George Read more...

Burmese Activists Organise Solidarity Concert

Posted 2:25pm Thursday 27th May 2021 by Denzel Chung

A concert this Thursday, May 27, aims to raise funds for democracy activists in Myanmar. Dunedin’s small Burmese community have been working non-stop for the last two months to make it all possible. The Solidarity Myanmar concert will be held at the Dunedin Town Hall, with a line-up Read more...

Huawei Phones Struggle to Connect to University Wifi

Posted 11:47pm Sunday 23rd May 2021 by Asia Martusia King

Huawei phones cannot reliably connect to University wifi, a student told Critic. Toby noticed last Thursday that his Huawei phone, which is usually able to connect to the wifi, was unable to connect to the University wifi in the Robertson Library. He went to Central Library but had no luck Read more...

Student Nurses Support Strike in June

Posted 11:46pm Sunday 23rd May 2021 by Hannah Johns

Student nurses have called for the government to take the eight-hour strike planned for June seriously, or face losing graduates to Australia.  The New Zealand Nurses Organisation voted to strike on June 9 for eight hours after the government offered a 1.38% pay increase, a percentage just Read more...

OUSA Subwarden Committee Formed

Posted 11:43pm Sunday 23rd May 2021 by Fox Meyer

Subwardens now have official representation on a committee and can approach OUSA more easily with their issues. Subwarden means RA. RA means Residential Assistant. Residential Assistant means friendly, not friend. OUSA President Michaela Waite-Harvey said that subwardens are “a good liaison Read more...

No Tutus in the Selwyn Ballet This Year

Posted 11:41pm Sunday 23rd May 2021 by Fox Meyer

As you may have noticed, there was a distinct lack of tutus worn by the Selwyn Ballet performers at this year’s capping show.  Luke McLelland, Warden of Selwyn, said that OUSA told Selwyn that they got feedback from last years show indicating that people didn’t really vibe with Read more...

Debate Magazine Left Without Designer for Five Weeks

Posted 11:38pm Sunday 23rd May 2021 by Erin Gourley

Debate Magazine, the student magazine at AUT, has only produced four issues this semester after the AUT Students’ Association (AUTSA) failed to hire a new designer for the magazine. The situation left Editor Rebecca Zhang unable to make a magazine for five weeks.  In her first Read more...

Free Rat Traps For North D Pests

Posted 11:36pm Sunday 23rd May 2021 by Alex Leckie-Zaharic

City Sanctuary, a Predator Free Dunedin project set up by the Dunedin City Council is offering free rat traps to Studentville residents in an attempt to eradicate the crafty little bastards from polluting pristine North D. In the coming weeks, City Sanctuary will install at least eighty traps Read more...

OUSA Criticises “Paternalism” in Code of Pastoral Care

Posted 11:34pm Sunday 23rd May 2021 by Alex Leckie-Zaharic

OUSA has submitted in support of the proposed Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Students) Code of Practice 2021, but proposed several changes to the wording of the policy.  “OUSA considers the implementation of the Code as necessary, especially in addressing spaces Read more...

Students Upset at Proposed Freedom Camping Rules

Posted 11:32pm Sunday 23rd May 2021 by Sean Gourley

Students, known for being broke, have raised concerns that proposed changes to freedom camping regulations will limit their ability to see New Zealand.  The changes were proposed by Minister for Tourism Stuart Nash. He is from Napier, so must know a lot about places people want to visit. The Read more...

131,610 Standard Drinks Worth of Hand Sanitiser Bought by Uni in 2020

Posted 11:29pm Sunday 23rd May 2021 by Denzel Chung

The Uni spent almost $100,000 on hand sanitiser in 2020, according to figures obtained by Radio One. Despite Covid-19 restrictions having eased this year, they are on track to spend almost the same amount in 2021.  According to Property Services Manager Dean Macaulay, $98,128 was spent on Read more...

Mid-May Madness for Massey Students

Posted 11:27pm Sunday 23rd May 2021 by Erin Gourley

A lot of shit is going down with Massey University’s various students associations. The General Manager of the Massey University Students’ Association (MUSA) left his job (or was made redundant), students were mad at their students’ associations, and now all four of their students Read more...

Musicians Push Back Against Noise Control Regime

Posted 11:25pm Sunday 23rd May 2021 by Denzel Chung

A “Save Live Music Forum” brainstormed ways for musicians and venue owners to do something about noise control regulations, which musicians claim create an atmosphere of “fear about what is allowed” in Dunedin.  Hosted at the Dog with Two Tails on Saturday 16 May, the Read more...

Budget Buzz Brokers Broke Breathas

Posted 11:22pm Sunday 23rd May 2021 by Elliot Weir

The government released their 2021 budget on Thursday, announcing the first meaningful benefit increases in decades, as well as increased spending on rail, Māori housing, Pharmac, and other areas. Amongst all the big numbers and dollar signs, there is some stuff for students to be excited Read more...

Most Bathrooms on Campus Now Have Sanitary Bins

Posted 11:18pm Sunday 23rd May 2021 by Fox Meyer

The Uni has improved its provision of sanitary bins, with bins now available in most bathrooms on campus. There has been an increase of 254 sanitary bins on campus (not including residential colleges) since 2018. However, in men’s bathrooms, sanitary bins are only present in the accessible Read more...

GUEST EDITORIAL: Menstruation is non-binary, period.

Posted 11:12pm Sunday 23rd May 2021 by Jay Bailey

As a transgender person who was assigned ‘female’ at birth (AFAB), menstruation is a funky topic for me. My body’s feminine properties constantly remind me that I exist in a meat shell which doesn’t quite fit with my perception of myself. But my body is not as clearly binary Read more...

Shosha Has Stopped Selling Cream Canisters

Posted 1:00pm Monday 17th May 2021 by Erin Gourley

16 May 2021 will go down in history as the day that Shosha stopped selling cream canisters. If you’ve been to Shosha recently, you might have noticed signs indicating that they would not be selling cream canisters from 16 May. “It has come to our attention that some customers have Read more...

OUSA Bore Students with Referendum Questions

Posted 4:08pm Sunday 16th May 2021 by Sean Gourley

In an attempt to send student engagement to an all-time low, OUSA has set their semesterly referendum questions to the most boring issues possible. There are only three engaging questions from the total ten questions provided. They are: “8. Should the University have the power to Read more...

First Ever Arts Ball A Success

Posted 4:06pm Sunday 16th May 2021 by Erin Gourley

The first ever Arts Ball at Otago took place in the Otago Museum on May 8 hosted by the School of Arts Students Society (SASS). Students who attended reckoned it was good, even though there was an inordinately high ratio of Doc Martens.  Allie Hawksworth, President of SASS, was involved in Read more...

Chatime At Uni Delayed

Posted 4:03pm Sunday 16th May 2021 by Alex Leckie-Zaharic

When Critic announced in mid-February that a Chatime franchise would be opening inside the old Archway Shop after Easter, there was much hype among the student population. However, we’re now over a month after Easter (which was April 4, just to save you the Google search) and we’ve got Read more...

New Baked Potato Takeaway Outlet Opening In Dunedin

Posted 3:59pm Sunday 16th May 2021 by Denzel Chung

A new takeaway outlet will soon be opening on George Street, dedicated to that unsung hero of foods: Baked potatoes.  Facebook and Instagram pages for Patate were launched last Thursday, with owner Aysu Shahin announcing they will “open very soon” at 420 George Street (nice), Read more...

There Is A Decomposing Lobster on Great King Street

Posted 3:58pm Sunday 16th May 2021 by Asia Martusia King

Around three weeks ago, a lobster appeared on Great King Street.  Annabelle, a resident of Great King Street, was leaving her flat one morning when she started smelling “the salty sea air”. “I thought it was odd because you usually smell either exhaust or Maccas,” she Read more...

Uni Begs Council to Actually Do Tertiary Precinct Upgrade

Posted 3:55pm Sunday 16th May 2021 by Alex Leckie-Zaharic

The DCC stood remarkably stone-faced last week as the University effectively got on their knees and begged for them to stop taking infrastructure funding away from the tertiary precinct.  The DCC has delayed the tertiary precinct upgrade. The plan has gone from $20 million over the next few Read more...

Ooh Look How Fancy OUSA Are, Now They Have An Advisory Board

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 16th May 2021 by Erin Gourley

OUSA are paying some fancy businesspeople to help them make commercial decisions on a newly created Advisory Board. The Board will meet bimonthly with OUSA to discuss commercial decisions and the direction of OUSA, as well as keeping in regular contact with the Exec and the CEO. There will be up Read more...

Students Ignored at Parliamentary Inquiry into Student Accommodation

Posted 3:50pm Sunday 16th May 2021 by Denzel Chung

The final report of the Parliamentary Inquiry into Student Accommodation, meant to uphold standards at halls, has been slammed by the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA), with President Andrew Lessells claiming it “ignores the voice of students.” The Inquiry was Read more...

Te Ao Māori Becomes Compulsory In Law Degrees

Posted 3:47pm Sunday 16th May 2021 by Erin Gourley

Tikanga and te ao Māori will now be taught in all of the core papers of a law degree, after a unanimous vote on Friday 7 May by the Council of Legal Education. The Council of Legal Education sets the requirements for all LLB courses in Aotearoa.  President of Te Roopū Whai Read more...

Government Providing 400 MIQ Spots for International Students in June

Posted 3:45pm Sunday 16th May 2021 by Elliot Weir

More international students will be able to come to Otago Uni from June, with 400 spots in MIQ set aside for international students.  The New Zealand International Students’ Association welcomed the news and said that the “lack of MIQ spaces has been a long-standing problem for Read more...

Manager “Oblivious” to Supermarket Workers’ Concerns Following Stabbing

Posted 2:41pm Tuesday 11th May 2021 by Erin Gourley

Clarification: the photo above this article is not an indication of which supermarket is involved. Rather than offering support to employees after yesterday’s stabbing at Countdown, another Dunedin supermarket asked workers for extra shifts because the supermarket would be Read more...

Consequences of Bitcoin Debated

Posted 3:02pm Sunday 9th May 2021 by Quintin Jane

You can buy a Tesla with it, and you can evade the feds with it, but recent reports from Cambridge University show that bitcoin mining consumes more power than the entire country Argentina, and accounts for nearly 1% of global power consumption. Actual, physical mining accounts for 4–7% of Read more...

There’s Asbestos in the Biochem Building

Posted 2:58pm Sunday 9th May 2021 by Alex Leckie-Zaharic

A routine story about the University proactively clearing away asbestos from an old building as part of an upgrade took an unexpected turn when the University sent mixed messages.  An earlier statement sent to Critic Te Arohi said that only the safer, “non-friable” form of Read more...

Only 1% of Uni Students Don’t Consume Caffeine

Posted 2:53pm Sunday 9th May 2021 by Fox Meyer

A new Massey study circulated by prominent science publisher MDPI found that nearly every single New Zealand tertiary student consumes caffeine on a near-daily basis. Caffeine was most commonly consumed as energy drinks, coffee, tea, or chocolate. The real news here is that 1% of students somehow Read more...

Uni Wants Some New Rules, OUSA Says “Mmmm idk about that”

Posted 2:50pm Sunday 9th May 2021 by Fox Meyer

OUSA pointed out a fuckton of problems with the proposed changes to the Code of Conduct in a 20-page submission to the University. The Uni is updating its Code of Conduct and received public submissions on the proposal until 7 May.  The very first thing that the Exec said in their submission Read more...

Fire Shuts Down Lectures

Posted 2:47pm Sunday 9th May 2021 by Alex Leckie-Zaharic

The dreary walk into University up Union St East was made a little more exciting on Wednesday morning, with the already scaffolding-covered College of Education Auditorium surrounded by four fire engines responding to the sight of smoke. According to a University spokesperson, a “small, Read more...

Samoan Students On Why Their Country is Ready for Change

Posted 2:45pm Sunday 9th May 2021 by Erin Gourley

The Samoan election was in a deadlock between a new opposition party, FAST, and the current governing party, HRPP. Another seat was added to break the deadlock, but it’s not clear whether that was legal, and the Head of State has recently called for a fresh election, but it’s not clear Read more...

“Farewell After 45 Years, Here, Have a Coffee and a Christmas Voucher”

Posted 2:42pm Sunday 9th May 2021 by Denzel Chung

Just two months after asking for “a bit of respect, a bit of courtesy” from her workplace of 45 years, Sue Loan who previously co-ordinated delivery of newspapers across Dunedin, received a 15 minute coffee break and two New World vouchers left over from Christmas.  “We are Read more...

“Democracy is Dead”

Posted 2:38pm Sunday 9th May 2021 by Fox Meyer

Sign Up Club’s 30 April OUSA SGM ended not with a bang, but a fizzle. The only motion to pass was an increase in pay for ex-officio positions at OUSA. This raised the pay for the Te Roopū Māori Tumuaki Karamea Pēwhairangi and Pasifika Students Association’s President Read more...

“Where Them Students At? Students At?” Ask Protesters

Posted 2:34pm Sunday 9th May 2021 by Denzel Chung

May 1 saw two protests happening in the Octagon simultaneously, with organisers lamenting a lack of student activism in a city once known for rowdy student-led protests.  The annual J Day protest, organised by the Ōtepoti Cannabis Collective, was designed to continue pushing for Read more...

Students Targeted With Anti-Vax Propaganda

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 9th May 2021 by Fox Meyer

On Thursday 6 May, studentville was bombarded with flyers full of bullshit about the Covid vaccine. The flyers could be found on Castle Street, George Street, and Queen Street.  They were created by the anti-vax group “Voices for Freedom”, founded by three “passionate Kiwi Read more...

Exchanges To Aus Starting Next Semester

Posted 2:24pm Sunday 9th May 2021 by Fox Meyer

Your Tinder pool will finally increase past 69 people next semester, as students will be able to jump back and forth across the ditch on exchange. Danielle Yamamoto Kerr told Critic that Otago and its Aussie partner universities will resume the exchanges in the second semester after several Read more...

Admin Job Losses Actually Led to Larger Departments

Posted 2:21pm Sunday 9th May 2021 by Denzel Chung

The University initiative which cut 160 support staff jobs for “efficiency” has led to the hiring of at least 170 full-time equivalent staff to replace them. The Support Services Review (SSR) was implemented by then Vice-Chancellor Harlene Hayne, and basically involved yeeting many Read more...

Gigs Suffer From Noise Complaints

Posted 10:13pm Sunday 2nd May 2021 by Denzel Chung

Local musicians and venue owners are pushing the DCC to stop noise complaints “killing live music,” after a folk gig at Dog With Two Tails was shut down because noise control could “hear it from a carpark.” As if that wasn’t the whole point. Dave Bennett was sound Read more...