“Abusive and Predatory Behaviour”: Report Claims OUSA-Affiliated Club Had a Culture of Abuse

Posted 1:55pm Sunday 12th July 2020

Content warning: Explicit descriptions of sexual abuse, violent behaviours and emotional manipulation. After a member alleged they were sexually assaulted, the Dunedin Fire and Circus Club published a preliminary report on internal sexual and emotional abuse, and proposed changes within the Read more...

EDITORIAL: Reporting About Sexual Violence Sucks

Posted 1:01pm Sunday 12th July 2020

Content warning: sexual violence. I hate the way I have to write about sexual violence. It sucks because the legal process that comes with proving that sexual violence occured is difficult, so few survivors pursue legal action. For the fewer survivors that approach the media with their stories Read more...

EDITORIAL: The Exec Are Too Comfortable Making Decisions Behind Closed Doors

Posted 9:12am Monday 6th July 2020

Critic Te Arohi is famously anti-weed, so it’ll be no surprise to you that my hackles were raised when the Exec made the decision to actively encourage Otago students to vote ‘yes’ to cannabis legalisation in the upcoming referendum. I was raised Catholic; it felt sinful enough to Read more...

OUSA Takes Pro-Cannabis Legalisation Stance

Posted 3:04pm Sunday 5th July 2020

Just over a month ago, OUSA asked students whether or not OUSA should take a stance in the upcoming cannabis legalisation referendum. Students said yes. The Exec decided to have a punishingly long discussion about whether or not they should do it, anyway. The Exec had a choice between two Read more...

R.I.P. Re-Creation Officer Josh Smythe

Posted 2:06am Friday 3rd July 2020

On 26 June, the eve of Re-Flo, OUSA Clubs and Societies Representative Josh Smith (a.k.a Smythe) resigned from OUSA. In an email to his colleagues and Critic he cited “personal circumstances”, specifically his “family, businesses, and charitable activities”. Josh said that Read more...

OUSA to Inspect Financial Records of Dunedin Fire and Circus Club

Posted 1:54am Friday 3rd July 2020

The Dunedin Fire and Circus Club (DFCC), perhaps best known for dreadlocked guys with fire who randomly appear at parties on Castle Street, is having its financial records inspected by OUSA. OUSA decided to inspect the Club’s financial records in an emergency OUSA meeting on Thursday 2 Read more...

UniMart RTD Coffee Review

Posted 1:32am Friday 3rd July 2020

Most people have never tried an RTD coffee (ready to drink. No, it doesn’t mean it is alcoholic), but you should. They are revolutionary. If I’d known they were a thing in first year, it might not have taken me five years to finish my degree. UniMart is full of them, and most of them are Read more...

The Best and Worst Anonymous Comments From the OUSA Referendum

Posted 4:44pm Thursday 18th June 2020

The OUSA Referendum happened and it was pretty average. The only real contenscious issue that emerged from the results is whether or not students want OUSA to co-host the Agnew Street party like they do with Hyde (it narrowly failed).  The most consensus students had on a referendum question Read more...

Radio One Deep Dive: Unapologetically Loud, Live and Local

Posted 10:30pm Thursday 21st May 2020

Sean Norling is the station manager at Radio One. If you’ve never met him in person, chances are you wouldn’t recognise him in passing. His vibe is lowkey. He doesn’t like his photo being taken. When Critic met him in his office, it was like he felt pained to be interviewed: Read more...

OUSA Exec Almost Asked Students A Question That They Don’t Want to Ask in Referendum

Posted 9:50pm Thursday 21st May 2020

In a 4:15pm emergency executive meeting last Tuesday, the Executive realised that they had no memory of creating or agreeing to include one of the dozen referendum questions. Weeks before each OUSA referendum, the Executive does a call out for student-submitted referendum questions. These Read more...