Columns

Welcome back.
This week we look at the death of the Scarfie dream. Whether rugby fiend who chugs down funnels of bourbon in your gruts or the very word ‘Scarfie’ makes you cringe, you cannot deny the culture has had an impact on your time here at Otago.
And that culture is under threat.

Regular readers of this magazine will have noticed a recurrent theme in our news pages over the past few years: student misbehaviour has been big news, and so have the University’s efforts to stamp it out. There’s been the Code of Conduct, Campus Watch, a change in marketing strategies, and terse words from the Vice Chancellor. Coupled with the University’s purchase of Gardies and The Bowler, it’s been looking like they’ll do anything it takes to drive Scarfies outta town.
I sent Thomas Redford out on a mission to find out the crazy extreme lengths the University has been going to in order to remove the embarrassing stain of Scarfiedom from existence. While he found the University is indeed very eager for the drinking culture to change at Otago, much of the change is actually coming from within the student body (p24).
It’s interesting that in the 1960s New Zealand moved away from the 6pm closing of bars. At the time it was noted that the country had the one of the highest rates of people drinking at home in the world – and this was seen as a problem. Now we’re right back there thanks to the stringent liquor licensing conditions that bars face, especially compared to those faced by off-license premises like liquor stores and supermarkets.
This is definitely having an impact on the entire industry and Scarfie icons are not immune. This week we reveal on p10 that the future of The Cook is also not so certain, as owners have secretly been shopping the business around. The clearest evidence we’ve ever seen that the University is not on a Scarfie-killing rampage comes with the confirmation that the Uni isn’t interested.
There is resistance to this slow death of Scarfie culture. Our resident Scarfie, columnist Richard Cheese, weighs in on p44, and for those who want to give it a go, you can test how Scarfie you are on p30.
Vice Chancellor Sir Professor David Skegg has been labelled Public Enemy Number One in the saga and he’s also just announced he’s leaving soon. Since he’s not giving interviews until just before he says his final farewell in a year’s time, Susan Smirk talked to everyone who’s ever met the guy to dig for dirt. However, he comes off looking pretty darn good (p34).
Many stalwart Scarfies have been pointing fingers squarely at the University and blaming it for buying Gardies to close it down. The reality is that it was a failing business and the University desperately needs more land. Gardies is dead because there are not enough Scarfies left to fill it. Is it because so many students from out of town want a nightlife experience similar to what they get in the bigger cities up north? Is it because students are rebelling against the Scarfie image? Or is it because it is now a lot cheaper to buy alcohol at the supermarket and drink at home and rock into town when you want to boogie? It’s probably a combination of all of the above – many bar owners Critic spoke to this week believe the latter especially.
Gardies could not keep up with the changing face of the student population and so it has gone. Skegg is dealing with the changing face of Tertiary Inc. and is facing pressures from all sides as he deals with funding cuts and a need to literally expand the University as we’re out of space. I think he’s doing his best – which is a lot better than what we’re seeing at universities around the country and overseas.
It’s all very interesting and there is a lot more to these stories yet to come.
 
You may have noticed over the holidays that Critic got in a spot of bother over an article we did last semester on Dunedin’s homeless. We’ll be discussing it in next week’s issue.