Archive

Terrain Generation: The Biomes of Ōtepoti

Posted 10:24pm Sunday 27th April 2025 by Molly Smith-Soppet

Here at Critic Te Ārohi, we have reported on 100 years of changing student landscapes, but what about the actual land we stand on? In honour of the release of the great piece of media called A Minecraft Movie, as well as our annual National Geographic issue, we booted up a new world save and Read more...

The National Student Association You Haven’t Heard Of

Posted 11:21pm Sunday 13th April 2025 by Hanna Varrs

  Dictionary (you’ll need it): Student Associations: AUSA - Auckland University Students’ Association ATSA - Aotearoa Tertiary Students’ Association AUTSA - Auckland University of Technology Students’ Association LUSA - Lincoln University Read more...

Paying Homage to Critic of Old: 100 Years of Editors

Posted 7:10pm Sunday 6th April 2025 by Nina Brown

Editor’s note: Special thanks to the Hocken Library who house every issue of Critic Te Ārohi extending back to 1925. Without them, Critic’s history, beyond our scuffed website, would not have been preserved. Sit a monkey in front of a typewriter long enough and it’ll churn Read more...

Bodies on the Line

Posted 10:10pm Sunday 23rd March 2025 by Jodie Evans

POV: You just spent the last of your allowance on gig tickets, your fridge is a wasteland, and you’re dangerously close to monetising your toes. But there, casting sultry, cash-flashing bedroom eyes at you from the back of a discarded Critic on your coffee table, is a Zentech ad. A clinical Read more...

Big Red vs the Admin: A Response

Posted 9:17pm Sunday 23rd March 2025 by Andrew Geddis

In Issue 3, Matilda Rumball-Smith provided an interesting, well-written, and thoughtful take on how student life currently feels on Castle St and environs (‘Big Red vs the Administration: Who Controls Castle?’). Reading it prompted a few personal thoughts and observations. These Read more...

The Great Critic Drug Dealer Review

Posted 5:28pm Sunday 16th March 2025 by Critic Staff

Disclaimer: The content in this article is not intended to endorse or encourage the purchase, use, or distribution of illegal substances. All anecdotes are intended for entertainment purposes only. Always make informed and responsible decisions about substance use, and seek professional help if Read more...

Big Red vs the Administration: Who Controls Castle?

Posted 12:11am Monday 10th March 2025 by Matilda Rumball-Smith

Content warning: Contains reference to sexual assault and animal abuse Castle Street has a way of making legends out of flats. Some burn bright, some burn out, and some burn couches. Big Red has done all three. The fifteen-man flat is as notorious as the street it stands on. They are the Breatha Read more...

11 Hours with the Student President

Posted 7:38pm Sunday 2nd March 2025 by Zoe Eckhoff

Liam White. Not a myth or legend per se, but definitely the most important man on campus (aside from Daddy Grant). He’s responsible for managing and looking after the OUSA-baby in all its glory. Whether it’s getting along with everyone or shitting itself, Liam is ultimately the one Read more...

Flo-Week Review: Is There A New King of Castle?

Posted 8:53pm Sunday 23rd February 2025 by Jordan Irvine

Flo-Week is the time second- and third-years get pissed before the freshers start pissing them off. (I get it but, like, come on, give them a break). Each night a flat on Castle or Leith Street hosts with a totally original theme, in the hopes people are ready and willing to dress up to get down. Read more...

Support the Critic Te Ārohi 100th Year Book

Posted 4:05pm Tuesday 18th February 2025 by Critic

2025 marks Critic’s 100th year in print, and we are incredibly proud to announce our intention to produce a book to commemorate this milestone. A centenary only comes around once, and we’d be over the moon to see this project happen. Our deadline is March 16th to secure a starting Read more...

Breaking the STIgma

Posted 8:40pm Sunday 13th October 2024 by Jodie Evans

“Welcome to a dog shit dimension, where everyone is infected with something that they got from fucking.” Back in May, we attended Otago’s annual Capping Show, and much like every other year, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) were the punchlines of a handful of sketches and Read more...

Break-Ups: An Anthology

Posted 8:51am Sunday 6th October 2024 by Critic Staff

Love is cool and all, but chances are if you’ve been in love, you’ve also been through heartbreak. There’s no way around it: break-ups are shit. They can be respectful, and props to anyone who’s come out the other end with a friend instead of a blocked account and the ability Read more...

Sidelines to Sabers: A Sports Saga

Posted 5:44pm Saturday 28th September 2024 by Hunter Jolly

I’ve never really been a fan of Big Sport™. The conventional Kiwi kids’ rugby, cricket, soccer, tennis, and basketball never really piqued my interest, and besides Palmy’s love of canoe polo, New Zealand high schools don’t tend to offer a ton of other options. Parkour Read more...

Dylan Lloyd: Polytech & Parasport

Posted 5:20pm Saturday 28th September 2024 by Adam Stitely

There are not many who live, breathe, and work sports to the same extent as twenty-year-old Otago Polytechnic student Dylan Lloyd. Ever since Dylan got into his first Wheelchair Rugby chair at a Halberg Games event in 2019, he instantly knew that it was for him. He’s devoted his life to Read more...

Better Initiations & Flat Warmings: OUSA Exec Test Alternative Initiation Methods

Posted 8:30pm Sunday 22nd September 2024 by OUSA Exec

Initiations. The age-old tradition of the oldest university in Aotearoa – but also, not really. Students come and go, upholding the bastion of traditions in the name of the “true student experience” without realising they cycle out of the rotation faster than a cheap pair of Read more...

That’s just the rules of Wheminism - Opinion: Māori Wāhine deserve their flowers

Posted 4:23am Monday 16th September 2024 by Nā Heeni Koero Te Rerenoa, R.W.C, Jessie Witeri, Maria Davis-Tini, Hineira Tipene-Komene

Navigating tikanga Māori can be like navigating your waka through the waves – it’s dynamic, fluid, and never the same from one iwi to the next. The idea that tikanga (practices) is a fixed, rigid structure is laughable when, for centuries, Māori have adapted, evolved, and Read more...

The Limit Does Not Exist: Kura Kaupapa Māori and Beyond

Posted 4:16am Monday 16th September 2024 by Shakayla Andrews-Alapaki

Conventional education often shackles success to outdated standards and narrow frameworks, measuring achievement by grades or awards. The dynamic force of Kura Kaupapa Māori (KKM) throughout the motu redefines what it means to achieve greatness. Kura Kaupapa Māori are Māori language Read more...

Critic Te Ārohi’s Third Not-So-Annual Kebab Review

Posted 4:07pm Saturday 7th September 2024 by Critic Staff

2020 was a year of many firsts. The pandemic pushed the population to extremes – emotionally, yes, but also creatively, with many trying things they’d never thought to before. Sourdough starters were born, hair-cutting scissors were purchased, and Critic Te Ārohi published the Read more...

Revival: A History of The Drag Scene of Ōtepoti

Posted 7:39pm Sunday 25th August 2024 by Jordan Irvine

There’s been a drag revolution in Ōtepoti this year. The revitalised queer scene has been spearheaded by Ōtepoti Drag Directory founder Ann Arkii, who has firmly established herself as Dunedin’s queen of drag. Earlier this year, Ann Arkii was quoted in a Local Produce column Read more...

Beyond The Binary: A Conversation on How Heteronormativity Intersects With Sexual Harm

Posted 6:06pm Sunday 25th August 2024 by Giorgia Fletcher

Content Warning: Discussions of sexual violence, homophobia and transphobia Ever stopped to think about the 'norm' in heteronormativity? It's a concept so woven into our daily lives that we often overlook its subtle, but disturbing, influence. From the popularity of Love Island to Read more...

Opinion: It’s The Damn Phone

Posted 12:01am Sunday 11th August 2024 by Tom Bouls

Author's Note: Tempted to skip this article because excessive phone use has destroyed your attention span? Head straight to this link to find out how addicted to your phone you are for an upcoming study.  What do you think of when you hear ‘addiction’? Someone at a bus stop, Read more...

Menstruation in the Wild

Posted 11:45pm Saturday 10th August 2024 by Jodie Evans

In an ideal world, the great outdoors would be a gender-neutral space. Just you, an open trail, towering treetops, and the echoes of birdsong carried on a soft breeze. But the reality is often less idyllic. Women and AFAB (assigned female at birth) people are significantly underrepresented in Read more...

No Place to Practice: How can there be an Ōtepoti music scene if bands can’t practise?

Posted 2:35pm Sunday 4th August 2024 by Jonathan McCabe

Drum n’ Bass may be the music of today’s student streets, but Ōtepoti Dunedin has been a cultural capital for live music since the emergence of the Dunedin Sound. The critically acclaimed genre is associated with iconic ‘80s bands like The Chills, who cemented Ōtepoti as Read more...

Static Age: For the Love of Vintage

Posted 9:04pm Sunday 28th July 2024 by Phoebe Lea

The world is burning, Shein sweatshops are churning, your Glassons mesh top is falling apart at the seams; suddenly two months out of style, and the last thing you want (unlike your first-year self) is to show up to a party and see someone wearing the same fit. A grey Butter hoodie? For Pint Night? Read more...

Piupiu, Penguin Pelts & Papatūānuku

Posted 8:29pm Sunday 28th July 2024 by Nā Heeni Koero Te Rerenoa (Sky)

In a world driven by fast fashion and throwaway culture, it’s not every day that you encounter garments crafted from the skins of freshwater eels, yellow-eyed penguins, and fur seals. That is until you step into ‘Te Whare Pora: House of Learning’, a current exhibition at community Read more...

Grant Robertson: Homecoming

Posted 4:11pm Saturday 20th July 2024 by Iris Hehir

On August 31st, 1992, 20-year old student president Grant Robertson gave Critic Te Ārohi what was quite possibly his first ever interview. 31 years later, Grant returns to the Clocktower, this time as Vice Chancellor of the University of Otago. Critic sat down with Grant once again to discuss Read more...

Bitter Cold: The Winter Blues

Posted 3:50pm Saturday 20th July 2024 by Nina Brown

Dunedin winters are harsh on bills, the body and the brain. The days shorten, showers lengthen, limbs stiffen, and – in the worst cases – eyes deaden. For freshers cosied up in residential halls, it’s not so bad with free heating and regular hot meals. The bitter bite of winter you Read more...

Critic Census 2024

Posted 7:11pm Saturday 13th July 2024 by Iris Hehir

Back for its fourth year is the Critic Census, the annual data-crunching exercise conducted by the nosy parkers at Critic Te Ārohi. We asked 52 questions on just about everything, and 1005 of you shared the juicy details on study, sex, drugs, flatting, money, politics, relationships and more. Read more...

Madam President: Can She Read?

Posted 8:26pm Sunday 26th May 2024 by Nina Brown

Every celebrity has fallen victim to the rumour mill. Jamie Foxx died and was replaced by a clone; Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson were boning during their One Direction days; Keanu Reeves is immortal; Khloé Kardashian is OJ Simpson’s daughter; Jennifer Lawrence faked her 2013 Oscars Read more...

Critic Scandals: An Inexhaustive (Updated) Account

Posted 8:00pm Sunday 26th May 2024 by Adam Stitely

Taking Dunedin Old to new heights, Critic Te Ārohi has been around for ninety-nine years. For almost all of them, we have pissed off some groups of people, from our very own Uni, landlords, to students and non-students alike; something news-breaking or outright offensive has definitely been Read more...

Spiked: An Invisible Crime

Posted 11:02pm Sunday 19th May 2024 by Jodie Evans

TW: Mentions of sexual assault and detailed depictions of drink spiking  At university, everyone seems to know someone who’s been spiked. The phenomenon hangs in the air at flat parties and lingers about the bathrooms of student bars, yet remains grossly stigmatised. Following Read more...

Frontiers of Scarfiedom: The Legacy of the Capping Cult

Posted 4:33pm Saturday 11th May 2024 by Nina Brown

Now in its 130th year, the Capping Show is a time capsule of the ever-evolving Otago University student culture. To recap Capping – and reuse a joke that Critic has made time and again in our 99 years writing about it – what began as a 19th century flash mob of sorts during graduation Read more...

Law v Students

Posted 8:19pm Sunday 5th May 2024 by Monty O’Rielly

Students often break the law. Common offences include drug use and distribution, disorderly conduct, theft, wilful damage to property, arson (à la couch burning), and pretty much every initiation that’s ended with a Proctor’s meeting. But when was the last time you thought of your Read more...

Castle Capitalism

Posted 10:24pm Friday 26th April 2024 by Angus Rees

It’s no secret that university students are short on money. Between tuition fees, the rising cost of living, and an academic workload that makes part-time work sparse, students are under a lot of financial pressure. But thanks to social media and consumer culture, a new 21st century job has Read more...

Te Araroa: An Unexpected Journey

Posted 8:02pm Sunday 21st April 2024 by Harriette Boucher

Te Araroa, though not officially one of Aotearoa’s 10 Great Walks, is arguably the greatest of them all. Translating to ‘The Long Pathway’, the trail spans 3000 km and traverses the entire length of the country, taking walkers through beaches, forests, country, and Read more...

The Great Critic Drug Review

Posted 2:08pm Sunday 14th April 2024 by Boba Ket

Disclaimer: The content provided in this article is not intended to encourage the use of illegal drugs or substance abuse. The information is based on personal experiences and subjective observations that are not applicable to everyone, and should not be used as a substitute for professional Read more...

Pitfalls of the Pill

Posted 11:03am Monday 8th April 2024 by Monty O’Rielly

Ah, the pill. That tiny, circular tab that’s readily handed out to fix a myriad of issues, whether that be mental health, preventing periods, curing acne or, you know, maybe even as a contraceptive. Since its release in the 1960s, the oral contraceptive pill has been treated as a miracle drug, Read more...

Best of Moaningful Confessions

Posted 4:15pm Saturday 23rd March 2024 by Critic

It’s only appropriate that the sex issue pays homage to everyone’s favourite sexscapade column: Moaningful Confessions. The column was born in 2020 out of the ashes of the seedy and often marginal Blind Date column. We’ve ranked the sauciest, most salacious, tit-lickin’, Read more...

From the Museum Lawn to the Octagon “Palestine Will Be Free!”

Posted 10:30am Monday 18th March 2024 by Iris Hehir

Disclaimer: The writer of this piece has attended Dunedin Justice for Palestine rallies in a protesting capacity. Content warning: This piece includes discussion of violence and mass death.  The world has watched in horror since October 7th last year as death, destruction, and devastation Read more...

Uni-intolerant: Why do hot girls have stomach issues?

Posted 2:55pm Sunday 10th March 2024 by Jodie Evans

For many starting their university careers, it’s with passionate optimism — the kind where you leave your dull hometown and escape into the big exciting world of adulthood (unrestricted alcohol consumption). But barely one week into what was supposed to be my very own coming-of-age Read more...

The Great Critic Hall Food Review

Posted 2:49pm Sunday 10th March 2024 by Critic

If you’re a first-year and noticed a baggy-eyed older student in your dining hall recently, chances are it was an undercover Critic Te Ārohi staff member nicking your food to review. Some would call it subterfuge, but we prefer the term “auditing”. Read on to see how your hall Read more...

Dollars and Scholars: Protest, Property Damage, and Student Activism at Otago Uni

Posted 5:23pm Saturday 2nd March 2024 by Zak Rudin

Disclaimer: Critic Te Ārohi does not condone property damage. Ah, the ‘90s. An era which saw the fall of the Soviet Union, the rise of the internet, way too much double denim, and a little thing called neoliberalism — responsible for causing the biggest and fastest privatisation Read more...

SIX60 v No 6: Hoani Matenga Hasn’t Forgotten His Roots

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 25th February 2024 by Iris Hehir

Few Kiwis will ever experience the pinnacles of success that Otago University alumni Hoani Matenga has. Ever since his first taste of representing his country for the Baby Blacks (NZ U19s) in 2006 as a second-year, Matenga’s rugby career has taken him on a journey most Weetbix card-collecting Read more...

Campus Watch, Watched

Posted 4:53pm Sunday 25th February 2024 by Nina Brown

Campus Watch are the aunts and uncles of North D. They giggle at the antics of youths, make bad jokes and elbow you until you laugh along, and don’t hesitate to tell you when you’re being a dick – aggressively so if you’re caught throwing bottles. Campus Watch is 40 strong, Read more...

Long Live the King

Posted 4:17pm Monday 19th February 2024 by Fox Meyer

According to over 150 Critic readers, these are the definitive King’s Cup rules for Otago students: 2: You, with 93.6%. Nominate a drink. 3: Me, with 93.6%.  You must drink. 4: Whores, with 61.8%.  People identifying as female must Read more...

Goops, I did it again! An idiot’s guide to stain removal

Posted 4:11pm Monday 19th February 2024 by Lotto Ramsay

Happiness is fleeting, we all die, and nothing is truly permanent. Nothing, that is, except for stains that you don’t get out in time (fuck you especially, red wine). O week is full of shenanigans that can ruin your clothes, soft furnishings, and possibly your future. Luckily, Critic is no Read more...

Highway to the Danger Zone

Posted 12:15pm Sunday 8th October 2023 by Fox Meyer

Thrill seekers are everywhere in Franz, to the point where bartenders used to “free-pour shots into open mouths like Cancun”, according to some guy I met in a spa pool. And to take care of those tourists, many students work in Franz over summers where they’ll invariably end up at Read more...

When The Party’s Over

Posted 10:56am Sunday 1st October 2023 by Iris Hehir

CW: This piece contains discusson of substance abuse, suicide and sexual assault.    Chances are the worst thing you’ve ever done was on the piss, and the worst you’ve ever felt about life was on a dusty Sunday morning.    “We always talk about Read more...

Putting the ‘Fuck’ in Whakapapa

Posted 10:08pm Sunday 24th September 2023 by Nā Skyla from Ngāti Hine

There’s a scene in Mean Girls where Karen Smith justifies getting with your cousin. And maybe she had a point. Yeah, it’s probably a pretty desperate move, but in some cases, it’s excusable. You didn’t hear it from me.    They say that forbidden fruit - or in Read more...

Table Manners: Dunedin’s Beer Pong Rules

Posted 12:13pm Monday 18th September 2023 by Nina Brown

You'd be hard pressed to find a flat that hasn't been witness to a fight over the rules of beer pong. Can you block a bounce shot? What happens when you hit the bitch cup? And what the fuck is a frozen chicken? Critic Te Ārohi asked (almost 50 questions), and 282 of you delivered. Read more...