Archive

Proctorial Justice Stocks Removed For 150th Exhibition

Posted 6:40pm Thursday 7th March 2019 by Wyatt Ryder

The Proctorial Justice stocks were removed from outside the Proctor’s Office in mid-January to be included in a historical exhibition for the University’s 150th anniversary. A University spokeswoman said, “The removal of the stocks was unrelated to the protest held outside Read more...

Law Camp Going Ahead With New Changes

Posted 6:37pm Thursday 7th March 2019 by Esme Hall

Law camp will go ahead for 2019, with new changes from the Society of Otago University Law Students (SOULS) after last year’s Law Camp was cancelled amidst a media furore that erupted when a 2012 attendee told the New Zealand Herald the camp was like “an American fraternity house,” Read more...

10Bar Reopens as Catacombs

Posted 9:24pm Thursday 28th February 2019 by Sophia Carter Peters

A bright and shiny new bar ‘Catacombs’ has risen from the rotten carcass known as 10Bar. The morgue-turned-nightclub has had some serious renovations including new floors, white marble bars and some macabre decorations.  Andre Shi, the owner of Catacombs and Vault 21, drew Read more...

Not Enough People Voted in Boring Referendum so OUSA Will Hold Boring Meeting

Posted 9:23pm Thursday 28th February 2019 by Esme Hall

OUSA is holding a Student General Meeting (SGM) after low turnout meant that its October referendum was invalid.  The meeting will be held at 12:30 p.m. in the Main Common Room, or outside if weather permits, on Thursday 21 March with the aim of “start[ing] our year off right,” Read more...

Which Dunedin Workplaces Allow Office Dogs: A Critic Investigation

Posted 9:22pm Thursday 28th February 2019 by Esme Hall

Reading Critic, you may start thinking University is about ‘the drugs’ and ‘the alcohol’. Don’t be fooled. Everyone knows that University is really about launching yourself into the job market. To do that, you need to be informed. That’s what Critic’s really Read more...

No One Disciplined for Initiations in 2018

Posted 9:20pm Thursday 28th February 2019 by Nina Minogue

In a marked drop from 2017, zero initiation-related events reached the Proctor’s Office last year. In 2017, seventeen students were excluded from University for initiation-related incidents, following an initiation at Cumberland Street flat Debacle that was called “sadistic,” Read more...

University Closes Two Dance Studios With No Plans for Redevelopment

Posted 9:19pm Thursday 28th February 2019 by Esme Hall

The University has vacated and closed its P.E. and Dance facilities, locking out community groups, but has no plans for redeveloping the buildings as yet. “With the finishing of the dance curriculum near the end of last year, the School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences has Read more...

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...