Archive

Opinion: AskOtago is a Shiny Piece of Nothing

Posted 9:17pm Thursday 28th February 2019 by Sinead Gill

Students have paid almost a million dollars for a Band-Aid. The new AskOtago hub looks pretty, but that’s about all it’s good for. It’s cut down our study space and replaced knowledgeable Departmental Administrators with people on casual or short-term contracts reading off a Read more...

Editorial: We Will Deliver You the AskOtago Domains Unscathed. Do Not Tell Anyone. Do Not Call the Police.

Posted 7:47pm Thursday 28th February 2019 by Charlie O’Mannin

Last year after a tip off from a concerned citizen, Critic bought the domain names askotago.com and askotago.co.nz for US$24.76, because apparently whoever was in charge of doing that sort of thing was made redundant in the Support Services Review.  We then used our new platform to answer Read more...

Editorial: Just Say No to Mysterious White Powders

Posted 10:04pm Thursday 21st February 2019 by Charlie O’Mannin

A few years ago I bought some transparent crystals off a guy in a white subaru who insisted on giving me long renditions of his encounters with the police as he rummaged through a big box of miscellaneous baggies.  He had apparently been pulled over on his way to see me, but the officer had Read more...

General Student Offending on the Decline, Sexual Offending Up

Posted 9:57pm Thursday 21st February 2019 by Nina Minogue

The University Proctor’s 2018 Discipline Report saw overall offending down but the first sexual offences referred to the Provost since 2015. With total offending down from 2017 by 14% overall, rates of fire, glass breaking and theft are the lowest they’ve been in years. This continues Read more...

Best and Worst of Flo Week 2019

Posted 9:28pm Thursday 21st February 2019 by Critic

Before a plague of freshers and the grotesque huckster’s paradise that is Tent City, North Dunedin was overwhelmed by Flo-Week. An age-old tradition (as in it’s been happening for more than a year), Flo-Week (short for Flatting O-Week) occurs a week before actual O-Week. Powered by Read more...

Another Victory in the Tenancy Tribunal Against the Elusive ‘Studio Apartment’

Posted 9:21pm Thursday 21st February 2019 by Sophia Carter Peters

Another property rented as a ‘studio room’ has been ruled a boarding house by the Tenancy Tribunal, continuing a trend of Dunedin landlords requiring tenants to sign illegal fixed term contracts when renting studio rooms that turned out to not actually meet the legal definition of a Read more...

Sexual Consent Workshops Back in the Saddle After Failed 2018 Run

Posted 9:19pm Thursday 21st February 2019 by Owen Clarke

Te Whare Tāwharau sexual consent workshops are back in 2019 after a botched attempt last semester, which then-OUSA Colleges Officer Norhan El Sanjak blamed on students’ “lack of interest”. 2019 will see three #WannaKnow workshops offered: CommUNIty102, Bringing in the Read more...

Emergency Phones Are Apparently Useful

Posted 9:14pm Thursday 21st February 2019 by Sinead Gill

The University has confirmed that Emergency Phones are reliable after members of Campus Watch told new staff members not to use them in an emergency. Critic was informed that members of Campus Watch had told new University staff they were better off using their cell phones in emergencies, rather Read more...

OUSA Ran Drug Testing for O-Week

Posted 9:06pm Thursday 21st February 2019 by Charlie O’Mannin

The Otago University Students’ Association (OUSA) ran a drug testing service over O-Week, the first time this has been offered in New Zealand outside of music festivals.  Debbie Downs, OUSA CEO, said that “It’s all very well for people to say ‘just don’t take Read more...

Interview: Paula B at Wiki-O

Posted 8:59pm Thursday 21st February 2019 by Hot for Paula

The moment it was announced that Paula Bennett herself would be making an appearance at Tent City, this Critic reporter knew they had to get an interview with her. As she would only be around for two hours, my window of opportunity was as slim as the cut of her pantsuit.  Once I got to the Read more...

Pride Flag Survives Minor Vandalism

Posted 8:52pm Thursday 21st February 2019 by Sinead Gill

Like most students in a new flat, Arvan and his flatmates set about making their mark on their home. In mid-January they hung a pride flag on the edge of their property. Within a fortnight, someone tried, and failed, to burn it and then tear it down. To Arvan, the failed attempt is laughable. Read more...

Starters Bar Opens Under OUSA Management

Posted 8:50pm Thursday 21st February 2019 by Charlie O’Mannin

Starters Bar opened for business last Monday after being purchased by OUSA late last year, ending years of OUSA Presidential candidates promising they’ll buy a student bar and then forgetting about it.  OUSA CEO Debbie Downs said that Starters opened with a full house and that the Read more...

Hannah Morgan Beats the Foveaux Strait

Posted 8:36pm Thursday 21st February 2019 by Erin Gourley

About halfway through her swim, Hannah Morgan was ready to give up. Foveaux Strait was a special kind of hell made of seasickness, sub-Antarctic water, and a final landmark that never seemed to get closer. But her cause motivated her to make it to the end.  On February 12, Hannah became the Read more...

OUSA to Introduce Drug Testing for O-Week

Posted 2:09pm Tuesday 19th February 2019 by Charlie O’Mannin

The Otago University Students’ Association (OUSA) will introduce drug testing for O-Week, the first time this service has been offered in New Zealand outside of music festivals. Debbie Downs, OUSA CEO, said that “It’s all very well for people to say ‘just don’t take Read more...

OUSA Buys Starters Bar

Posted 7:03pm Monday 10th December 2018 by Charlie O’Mannin

The Otago University Students’ Association has bought Starters bar, ending years of OUSA Presidential candidates promising they’ll buy a student bar and then forgetting about it.  OUSA Events Manager Jason Schroeder told Critic that OUSA “wanted to ensure that we did Read more...

Med School Finds Credible Evidence of Cheating

Posted 4:37pm Friday 23rd November 2018 by Charlie O’Mannin

The University of Otago’s Medical School has released the results of third year medical students objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), after holding the results while investigating alleged cheating, despite having have “credible evidence” that cheating took place, Read more...

Med Students Exam Results Withheld After Alleged Cheating

Posted 11:14am Tuesday 20th November 2018 by Charlie O’Mannin

Third year medical students’ exam results are being withheld after alleged cheating on the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), making some students worried that everyone who sat the exam might be recalled to Dunedin to resit it. In a letter sent out to third year medical Read more...

Critic Wins Big at Student Press Awards

Posted 1:09am Tuesday 23rd October 2018 by Critic

Otago University student magazine Critic Te Arohi was the big winner at the 2018 Aotearoa Student Press Awards this weekend, picking up eight awards and winning the overall award of Best Publication for the second year straight. The awards were judged by some of New Zealand’s most Read more...

RA Speaks Out Against the University

Posted 11:49pm Thursday 4th October 2018 by Staff Reporter

There’s a pretty solid argument to be made for the claim that being an RA is the shittiest job in the world, because RAs are forced to do something worse than death on a daily basis – interact with freshers. Charlene Chainz would surely say something along the lines of, “A noble Read more...

Vice-Chancellor Rejects Safe Drug Testing Initiative

Posted 11:38pm Thursday 4th October 2018 by Charlie O’Mannin

Otago University Vice-Chancellor Harlene Hayne rejected a proposal by Josh Smythe, OUSA Re-Creation Officer, to have pill testing services available during Re:Ori to combat the problem of people obtaining substances that are not what they were sold as, which can have the potential to harm or kill Read more...