Archive

The Man Behind Craig Daniels: Will Murphy

Posted 12:23pm Saturday 23rd May 2026 by Hanna Varrs

Second-year Will Murphy (@willmurphycomedy) has “always been into theatre”, which makes it no surprise that when he enrolled in Otago he chose to major in Theatre Studies. With a “soft spot” for comedians, he grew up watching the likes of Rowan Atkinson (better known as his Read more...

Government to Tweak Climate Change Law

Posted 12:20pm Saturday 23rd May 2026 by Jack Evans

Amid a flurry of news from the Government, such as the cutting of fees free, and Judith Collins leaving Parliament (tofā soifua Judith), Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith has dropped a bombshell for the future of Aotearoa’s climate change response. Here is a quick explainer from Critic Read more...

Diversify The Library: Books That Reflect Our Experience

Posted 12:18pm Saturday 23rd May 2026 by Gryffin Blockley

With over twenty thousand students, Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka tauira boast a massive range of backgrounds and lived experiences. In order to reflect this range, the team behind the library has a new project: Diversify the Library (DTL). They’re working hard to have their (already Read more...

Capping Show Review: Unleashed, Hilarious and Over Too Soon

Posted 12:17pm Saturday 23rd May 2026 by Harry Almey, Bella Bates, & Jonathan McCabe

Critic Te Ārohi, risking life and limb after publishing a not-so-positive review last year, returned to this year's Capping Show. Thankfully, we didn't have to worry. We only needed to get about 10 minutes in before realising that we weren't going to regret putting them on the front Read more...

Critic Te Ārohi’s (Theatrical) Guide to Mid-Year Break

Posted 12:07pm Saturday 23rd May 2026 by Saraia Allais

If you’re stuck down in Dunners for the upcoming break, don’t fall to the temptation of a three-week long bed rot. If you fancy doing something other than drinking the cold away, or finding hot new ways to procrastinate exam study, Critic Te Ārohi’s got you. Happy end of Read more...

Local Produce: U-No Juno

Posted 12:06pm Sunday 17th May 2026 by Ethan Montañer

U-No Juno are undoubtedly one of the most enthralling bands in the current Ōtepoti music scene, pulling from a colourful array of influences to craft their own self-described brand of “post-post-post-post-post-post-post hardcore”. Since 2024, the band have been carving out a name Read more...

International Students Report Insurance Delays

Posted 11:54am Sunday 17th May 2026 by Georgia Hejduková

International exchange students are a staple of the University of Otago’s community. However, it’s easy to forget to question some of the barriers they may face in getting here. One such barrier is health and travel insurance, which is a prerequisite for international students. While the Read more...

Runway Revival a Runaway Success

Posted 11:51am Sunday 17th May 2026 by Te Awhirēinga Heperi

Runway Revival 2026 had Errick’s packed with Ōtepoti’s most fashionable residents (believe it or not, they do exist down here). The fashion show featured a wraparound runway, twinkling lights, and the skilled Dunedin quartet, all put together by Presbyterian Support to showcase Read more...

A Peep Behind The Capping Show Curtains

Posted 11:49am Sunday 17th May 2026 by Harry Almey

'Twas the week before Capping opening night, and the walls of Central were plastered with missing posters of the cast. As worried as the next guy, Critic Te Ārohi put on a brave face and big-boy pants and went undercover to investigate. Critic understands that the cast of SQUEAL: A Read more...

“Misunderstanding” Results In University Removing OSJP Posters

Posted 10:37am Sunday 10th May 2026 by Hanna Varrs

Critic Te Ārohi recently received a tip from a café worker at St David Café, who was allegedly asked to remove posters put up by Otago Students for Justice In Palestine (OSJP) on the 22nd of April. The employee told Critic that café workers were asked to remove the Read more...

Unions Rally For May Day

Posted 10:31am Sunday 10th May 2026 by Molly Smith-Soppet

Union flags filled Union Hall last Friday (lol), as around 150 workers, students, and organisers gathered to mark May Day (also known as International Workers’ Day). The hui brought together a wide cross-section of unions — from nurses and firefighters to supermarket workers and Read more...

Palo Alto Partnership Under “Review”

Posted 10:28am Sunday 10th May 2026 by Hanna Varrs

What Happened? As previously reported, the University of Otago has confirmed a partnership with Palo Alto Networks (PANW), a cybersecurity company that has been accused of having “deep links to the Israeli government” by Otago Staff for Palestine (OSP). The partnership is intended to Read more...

Local Produce: Emily Esplin

Posted 10:24am Sunday 10th May 2026 by Maea Wikohika

Emily Esplin (she/they) is an emerging Ōtepoti artist carving out a sound that feels raw, honest, and distinctly their own. Her music sits somewhere between vulnerability and distortion, a space where soft introspection collides with an ever-growing rock influence. She’s also Read more...

Leary’s Theory for Better Mental Health Services

Posted 10:19am Sunday 10th May 2026 by Harry Almey

Ingrid Leary, Labour MP of Taieri since 2020, and Labour Spokesperson for Mental Health, recently sat down for her first-ever interview with Critic Te Ārohi. Young people consistently have ranked the mental health crisis and climate change as their top concerns for the future, so Ingrid wants Read more...

North D in Thirty Years: What Will Our Flats Look Like?

Posted 10:18am Sunday 10th May 2026 by Stella Weston

The North Dunedin Spatial Plan Project aims to ensure that there is enough housing for students in North D for the next thirty years. But that’s not just any housing – it’s housing that encapsulates what students want. Novel! Organised by the City Development Team of the Dunedin Read more...

“Stay Petty”: The Subs and Cats Saga

Posted 2:48pm Sunday 3rd May 2026 by Bella Bates

The drama is bubbling over between two of Dunedin’s biggest players in student nightlife in a TikTok-based standoff. Suburbia (lovingly known to the fresher population as ‘Subs’) took to TikTok with a not-so-subtle jab at rival Catacombs (‘Cats’). Feathers were Read more...

University Trials Partnership With Parking Enforcement Services

Posted 2:45pm Sunday 3rd May 2026 by Gryffin Blockley

Parking Enforcement Services (PES) have been contracted to conduct a parking enforcement trial at two car parks over the next three months, a University of Otago spokesperson has confirmed to Critic Te Ārohi.  You may recognise PES from major supermarket parking lots in Dunedin, or, if Read more...

Critic Te Ārohi x The Maharajas: Charity Edition

Posted 2:43pm Sunday 3rd May 2026 by Imogen Perry

Critic Te Ārohi and Dave from The Maharajas: we’ve got a loving history. A match made in heaven, one might say. On Saturday the 9th of May, Dave and the Maharajas team will be hosting the ultimate charity night – good vibes, good flavours, good people. So we’ve taken the Read more...

Crisis Café Opens In North East Valley

Posted 2:41pm Sunday 3rd May 2026 by Harry Almey

It’s another win for wellbeing in Otago, with the South Island's second Crisis Recovery Café opening in the North East Valley. Operated by the Otago Mental Health Support Trust (OMHST), the café shares spaces with the Valley Project. Critic Te Ārohi sat down for an Read more...

Local Produce: Rheumy

Posted 1:35pm Sunday 26th April 2026 by Ethan Montañer

Rheumy are a self-described “kosmiche noise group” who materialised into Ōtepoti’s music scene in early 2025. The trio create compositions that can be difficult to pin down with descriptions — the music is somehow free-form yet intentional, rhythmic yet droning — Read more...

Student Wellbeing Hub is (Officially) Open

Posted 1:26pm Sunday 26th April 2026 by Harry Almey

Two years after announcing that Te Pou Whirinaki (the Wellbeing Hub) would take the place of the old Campus South stationary shop, Vice-Chancellor Grant Robertson, and National Party Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey, gathered on the 15th of April for its official opening. Te Pou Whirinaki Read more...

Strait Talk: What’s Actually Going On in Hormuz?

Posted 1:24pm Sunday 26th April 2026 by Bella Bates

With TikTok explainers flying around and group chats spiralling, Critic Te Ārohi went straight to Professor Robert Patman to make sense of the escalating situation in the Strait of Hormuz. Patman, a Professor in the University of Otago’s Politics Department, specialises in international Read more...

Possums? We Don’t Know Her

Posted 1:22pm Sunday 26th April 2026 by Luke MacLeod

The Otago Peninsula was declared possum free in March, making it one of the first inhabited landscape-scale areas in Aotearoa to successfully eliminate the pest. Critic Te Ārohi reached out to Chris Arnison, Community Coordinator and Operations Director of the Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Read more...

Execrable: Written Warning, MoU and Political Planning

Posted 1:18pm Sunday 26th April 2026 by Hanna Varrs

Celebrating 4/20 likely in a different way to most students, the OUSA Exec still managed to push their fortnightly meeting up to a marathon two and a half hours on the 20th of April. Who can say they aren’t dedicated? There was a heap on the agenda to get through, and get through it they Read more...

‘Dunedin Herald’ Taking Shit Posting to the Next Level

Posted 1:17pm Sunday 26th April 2026 by Stella Weston

The Dunedin Herald is a new satirical Instagram account, self-described as “our most special city’s most trusted news”. Despite being only six days old at time of writing, they’ve gained over 1400 followers. Although the student behind the account wanted to remain anonymous Read more...

Delivereasy Statistics Reveal Dunedin’s Food Delivery Diagnosis

Posted 1:15pm Sunday 26th April 2026 by Imogen Perry

A fifteen minute walk in the cold versus experiencing the full offerings of Fatty Lane from bed for a $5 delivery fee – this choice is becoming shamefully easy. Kiwi-owned delivery platform, Delivereasy, has recently shed light upon customer statistics, revealing the tendency for tauira across Read more...

Q&A with Q and Dave

Posted 1:42pm Sunday 19th April 2026 by Stella Weston

Qiulae 'Q' Wong believes that the “role of government is to look at the horizon and stand for that.” She’s sick of the divisive, “pendulum politics” that we see in New Zealand today, with governments undoing policy changes with every switch in power. Founded in Read more...

OUSA Q1 Exec Reports: These guys want to get paid

Posted 1:38pm Sunday 19th April 2026 by Gryffin Blockley

After riding the high of their election wins last year, the OUSA Executive have had to put their heads down and start the mahi for 2026.  The Exec gets paid through something called ‘honorariums’. In order to receive their honorarium, the Exec members must hand in a quarterly Read more...

Critical Tribune: Breatha Raises Hand in Class

Posted 1:29pm Sunday 19th April 2026 by Dildo Connor

Second year breatha, Shooda Sckipt, was sat in his Tuesday morning lecture last week. Talking to Critical Tribune reporters, Shooda recounted that he had “surprisingly mustered up the courage” to make it to a lecture for a class that had an upcoming midterm assignment – no small Read more...

The Bowling Club Needs Students

Posted 1:25pm Sunday 19th April 2026 by Molly Smith-Soppet

Whether you don’t know what to cook in the flat tonight, are struggling with midterm stress, or your body is beginning to deteriorate due not seeing a vegetable in a week, Critic Te Ārohi has a solution for you. The Bowling Club delivers straight to OUSA Clubs and Socs, which is a perfect Read more...

Vice-Chancellor’s Welcome Email Returns 100% AI Prediction

Posted 4:34pm Saturday 11th April 2026 by Hanna Varrs

Critic Te Ārohi recently received a news tip from an anonymous student that ran Vice-Chancellor Grant Robertson’s welcome email through GPTZero (Model 4.2b). The message was sent to all students at the start of the year, and had the subject-line “Student update: 25 February Read more...

Explainer: Albany Street Connection Project

Posted 4:27pm Saturday 11th April 2026 by Hanna Varrs

Since 2021, the Dunedin City Council (DCC) has done heaps of advertising, letter drops, media coverage and public consultation about the changes happening to Albany Street and surrounding areas. The $4.8 million Albany Street Connection Project (ASCP) construction and road reseal will fully take Read more...

University Defends Partnership With Palo Alto Networks

Posted 4:17pm Saturday 11th April 2026 by Stella Weston

The University of Otago announced its partnership with international cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks (PANW) in May of last year to aid in the development of a new Masters in Digital Technology at the budding Queenstown campus. However, the partnership has recently come under scrutiny by Otago Read more...

Local Produce: Bunchy’s Big Score

Posted 4:12pm Saturday 11th April 2026 by Ethan Montañer

Bunchy’s Big Score is an Ōtepoti art/pop/rock band who have become well-loved in the local scene over the past two years. Known for their noisy ear-worm bangers and ridiculously fun live shows, the quartet is preparing for what will be their biggest year yet. The band’s current Read more...

Critical Tribune: Hyde Street Party 2026 Flat Themes Unveiled

Posted 4:09pm Saturday 11th April 2026 by Dyldo Connor

As Otago students return from mid-sem break, speculation from the shitposters of the Castle26 Facebook group has been at an all time high. Critical Tribune is here to put the rumors to bed and confirm the official Hyde Street Party flat themes. Critical Tribune investigative journalists spoke to Read more...

Thursdays in Black: More Than Just a Black T-Shirt

Posted 4:05pm Saturday 11th April 2026 by Bella Bates

The concept behind Thursdays in Black (TiB) couldn’t be simpler: wear black on Thursdays. Through symbolically wearing black each week on campus, TiB Otago creates weekly visibility and raises awareness of those who have experienced or are experiencing sexual violence.  Despite winning Read more...

What’s Going On With Eduroam?

Posted 12:32pm Sunday 29th March 2026 by Bella Bates

This year, Critic Te Ārohi has noticed a spike in online grumbling about the University Wi-Fi, eduroam. Students have taken to forums (such as Castle26 and UoO Confessions – our favourite unofficial channels) in droves to air their grievances, which mostly boil down to this: the internet Read more...

Get Standards and Start Complaining

Posted 12:29pm Sunday 29th March 2026 by Stella Weston

By not speaking up when something is wrong with a product or service, young people and students are losing themselves a collective estimated $16.5 million every year. Kadie Wilson, an advisor for consumer services at MBIE had some words to share with students about the benefits of making a fuss when Read more...

OUSA Reception Rescues At Least $25,000 of Lost Property

Posted 12:26pm Sunday 29th March 2026 by Harry Almey

In the days after St. Patrick's, OUSA Lost Property received 26 quality drink bottles, 14 chargers, 5 pairs of headphones, 4 Apple pens, 3 reading glasses, 2 telephones, 1 driver's license (rescued from Castle26 box negotiations), and 80 more assorted items. They don't have a partridge Read more...

Cost of Living and Unemployment Take a Hit on OUSA Student Hardship Fund

Posted 12:21pm Sunday 29th March 2026 by Gryffin Blockley

With 2026 well underway, many of Ōtepoti’s tauira are feeling the pressure from gold-plated petrol prices and the hellscape of Aotearoa’s supermarket duopoly. With seemingly the cost of everything on the rise, student hardship is taking a toll, and she’s not slowing for Read more...

Local Produce: AW / Andrew Wilson

Posted 12:17pm Sunday 29th March 2026 by Ethan Montañer

Andrew Wilson is an Ōtepoti-born musician with a hectic but impressive musical career. Many will know him as the frontman/guitarist of post-punk trio Die! Die! Die!, one of Aotearoa’s most important and consistent bands of the last 20 odd years. In that band he’s played innumerable Read more...

Local Produce: Deaf Raccoon

Posted 12:29pm Sunday 22nd March 2026 by Ethan Montañer

Deaf Raccoon are one of Dunedin’s most exciting new alternative punk bands, and are a testament to the importance of having all-ages gigs. Having only played their first gig in April of last year, the four-piece have already released a single, played the Rockquest National Finals, and made Read more...

Tamatha Paul Talks Housing

Posted 12:18pm Sunday 22nd March 2026 by Stella Weston

Tamatha Paul, Green MP for Wellington Central, and Party Spokesperson for housing (among other things), caught up with Critic Te Ārohi for a chat about the Green’s upcoming housing campaign. Housing is something that affects everyone, whether you’re “a student living in a Read more...

Dunedin Youth Orchestra Unlocks New Sound

Posted 12:15pm Sunday 22nd March 2026 by Stella Weston

In a grand collaboration with Dunedin Youth Orchestra, international performer and composer Daniel Verstappen (yes, a relative of the F1 driver) will be playing at Hanover Hall on the 1st of April. Belgium-born Daniel fell in love with New Zealand when he visited two years ago, and he hopes this Read more...

Second Year Law Camp Cancelled “For The Foreseeable Future”

Posted 12:14pm Sunday 22nd March 2026 by Hanna Varrs

Law Camp was a fixture of the second year law experience at the University of Otago. Hosted by the Society of Otago University Law Students (SOULS), they quietly cancelled for this year’s iteration of the camp. The event was traditionally a getaway to the country – featuring skits, Read more...

Semesters Dropped to 12 Weeks For 2027

Posted 12:11pm Sunday 22nd March 2026 by Hanna Varrs

This just in – the University of Otago is planning to change our semesters from 13 weeks to 12 starting from 2027. The saved week will be used as what they’re calling a “reading week” for students.  It’s well known that Otago’s hick cousins, Lincoln and Read more...

Case of Meningococcal Disease Found In Student Community

Posted 7:53pm Saturday 14th March 2026 by Hanna Varrs

As many are well aware, the University recently confirmed a case of meningococcal disease within the student community. Vice-Chancellor Grant Robertson’s reassurances regarding the situation were beamed directly to everyone with a student.otago.ac.nz address. Meningitis is not to be messed Read more...

Fringe Starts with Bang(s)

Posted 7:47pm Saturday 14th March 2026 by Stella Weston

With shows ranging from comedy to ballet and everything in between, the Dunedin Fringe Festival is in full swing. Running from the 11th of March to the 22nd, this program is stacked with 93 shows in venues across Ōtepoti. Time to text the flat gc and do a wholesome outing for a Read more...

Politicians vs Professors

Posted 7:44pm Saturday 14th March 2026 by Te Awhirēinga Heperi

With an eager crowd watching and the sun shining overhead, a football game kicked off on Logan Park last Sunday, March 8th. Usually, that’d be nothing out of the ordinary. But if passersby cared to look a little closer, they’d see that gangly adolescent limbs had been traded with the Read more...

Local Produce: Monkey Do

Posted 7:42pm Saturday 14th March 2026 by Ethan Montañer

Monkey Do are a new pack of primates/alternative rock band who love the Ōtepoti music scene, and have spent the past year refining their sound at Pint Nights and flat gigs. Critic Te Ārohi caught up with Rowan (guitar, he/him), Mack (bass, he/she), Pato (guitar, he/him) and Kam (drums, Read more...