Archive

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...