Archive

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...