Archive

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...

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...