Initiations “Back With a Vengeance” after Covid Hiatus

Last week, we reported on a flat initiation involving a live eel. Since then, the ODT and NZ Herald have picked up the story, police have been informed, and an investigation by the Uni (who knew about the incident prior to publication) is underway. A minority of students defend the initiation in the name of “good fun”, while the majority have never, and will never, engage in one.   There is mounting concern among many,...

The Vice Chancellor Position is open, Se We Applied

The University is advertising for a new Vice Chancellor. Again. Someone has to take up the mantle and lead this struggling institution through tough times, so we at Critic Te Ārohi figured we’d throw our name in the hat. After all, nobody knows Dunedin like we do. Here’s what we sent in.....       Cover letter To the Selection Committee at the University of Otago, I am writing to express my...

A message for the 2024 Otago Student Cohort

Since this is the last issue of Critic for the year, I thought I’d take the opportunity to use the my executive privilege to hijack a page here and say thank you to everyone at the University of Otago and across the country who has taken time this year to bring attention to the tertiary funding crisis facing Aotearoa.  This is not something I was expecting to focus on coming into this role, and it’s certainly made for an...

Onslaught of Cyber Security Emails Annoy Students

If you've looked at your inbox at all this year, you will have noticed a torrent of emails from the Uni giving you a “friendly reminder that you have not yet completed the University of Otago cyber security training module(s)” and that these are “mandatory to complete”. The onslaught of these ironically spammy emails has left students a little peeved, with one news tip sent to Critic complaining that cyber security can...