Critic - 2026 Issue 21 by Critic - Te Ārohi

ISSUE 21 7TH SEPT 2026 EDITOR Hanna Varrs DEPUTY EDITOR Stella Weston DESIGNER Ash McFarlane VIDEO EDITOR Hunter Jolly VIDEO CREW Ngākau Aporo NEWS EDITOR Gryffin Blockley FEATURES EDITOR Matilda Rumball-Smith CULTURE EDITOR Molly Smith Soppet

The Week Of My Dreams On the 29th of June, I received an email from some people representing a photo company. Long story short, they were requesting $365 due to using a picture that amounted to copyright infringement. Uh oh! They sent a link to where we’d used this material, which was a random Facebook post from all the way back in 2018. The 2018 Critic Editor had used a picture of a Cadbury Creme Egg for a food review, and they didn’t even know what it would cost me nearly 8 years later. I took the picture down immediately (RIP) and sent the email to my manager. Much to my horror, these copyright police escalated the matter. They were going to get local legal counsel involved over a picture of a Creme Egg! My manager sent back a very long and very sorry email, so now we only owe them $290 which I will have hopefully remembered to pay by the time you’re reading this. In other news, you may have seen us break some news about Benedict Ong being trespassed from all OUSA premises. You can read more about that in our news section, but holy shit – it was the craziest article I’ve ever written. I am just glad it all went down over the midsem break, otherwise I

probably would’ve been in a lecture when Councillor Ong posted my request for comment to him within 13 minutes of me sending it off. I only knew it had happened because of a staff member diligently refreshing his Facebook and showing me as soon as it happened. It was straight up one of the best moments of my life. I feel like I say it nearly every editorial, but I am so thankful to be Editor. It’s the best job I could ask for, and I haven’t found a better feeling than the rush I get when I get to publish a story that I’m proud of. Even when we nearly get sued over a picture of a Creme Egg, or Ben Ong takes to Facebook instead of replying to me, I am nothing but happy. I’d like to give a big thank you to Critic staff, readers and all the amazing journalists around me who make being Editor possible. And with only five issues left for this year (excluding this one), I hope you’ve enjoyed what we’ve printed so far as much as I have. Have a great week!

ĒTITA MĀORI Heeni Koero Te Rerenoa SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Bella Bates SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER Maddy Barnes STAFF WRITERS Harry Almey, Imogen Perry, Jesse Valpy, Te Awhirēinga Heperi, Saraia Allais CONTRIBUTORS Salome Prekopa, Emily Ng RADIO ONE Ash McFarlane BOOZE REVIEWS Casamoaner HOROSCOPES Otago Oracle ILLUSTRATION Gemma McKinney @worms.ink Jimmy Tannock @jimmydrawing Eddie Fenton @boyorfeo Eleanor Walker @furby_is_alive Robin Simpson Lizzie Jackson FRONT COVER Lizzie Jackson assisted by Robin Simpson CENTREFOLD Robin Simpson Lizzie Jackson ONLINE Charlotte Williams DISTRIBUTION Pedals Dunedin ADVERTISING SALES sales@planetmedia.co.nz 03 479 5361 READ ONLINE critic.co.nz Issuu.com/critic_te_arohi GET IN TOUCH critic@critic.co.nz Instagram/@criticmag Facebook/CriticTeArohi TikTok/@criticmag 03 479 5335 P.O.Box 1436, Dunedin Critic Te Ārohi is a member of the Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA). Disclaimer: The views presented within this publication do not necessarily represent the views of the Editors or OUSA. NZ Media Council: People with a complaint against a magazine should first complain in writing to the Editors and then, if not satisfied with the response, complain to the NZ Media Council. Complaints should be addressed to the Secretary: info@mediacouncil.org.nz.

CONTENTS 1 NEWS 05. Benedict Ong To Be Trespassed From All OUSA Premises 06. Investigation: What Was That Nursing UoO Confession Post About? 08. Monkey See, Monkey Do, Monkey Win 09. University Cracks Down On 21st Season

LETTERS

Critic came out but Molly's I'm writing this just a few hours after this d. That feeling of your 'Home' article was so beautifully expresse is something not many childhood home not being home anymore it's so hard to capture but she mention about moving away for uni andto my parents. it send did it. Mīharo team, even had to r to receive — thank you! Molly’s Reponse: This is such a lovely lette means a lot to hear that it Writing 'Home' felt pretty personal, so it y hoped it might help other reall I too. captured something you’d felt bit unsure about where “home” people recognise that it’s okay to feel a somewhere between where ht caug re actually is, especially when you’ you came from and where you are going. @critic.co.nz Send a letter to the editor at critic to be in to win a $20 UBS voucher.

Kia ora Critic,

2 CULTURE 12. We’re All Friendless Losers 14. The Brunch Theory

3 FEATURE 18. AI: Amazing Innovation or Annihilation Incoming?

4 COLUMNS 24. Radio One 25. OUSA Executive 27. Moaningful Confessions 28. Horoscopes 29. Snap of the Week 30. TLDR

I recently took part in the Youth Wing debate organised by SPPANZ and POLSA – shoutout to you guys! I genuinely enjoyed being there, but I left feeling disappointed by the Opportunity Party’s Dunedin candidate, Dave BainbridgeZafar. In his introduction, Dave described joining Opportunity after receiving an email from “a woman with a funny name.” For anyone who doesn’t know, Opportunity is led by Qiulae Wong. I don’t see what’s funny about her name, and Dave didn’t care to elaborate. I grew up in a Chinese family, and I think that anyone who grew up without an English name understands that comments like this are not harmless. These jokes that many of us grew up hearing may seem trivial but reinforce the idea that certain names, and thus cultures, languages, and faces, are inherently laughable. Later on in the debate, Dave criticised Winston Peters for telling Lawrence Xu-Nan, a Chinese-born Green MP, to “go back to your own country.” I think it would be useful for Dave to recognise that his comments are exactly the type that normalise and enable the environment that allows the type of rhetoric he called out. You can’t condemn overt xenophobia while brushing off subtler forms of it. I am unsure why someone representing a party that wants to work constructively across the political spectrum would make remarks that undermine that goal. If Opportunity wants to present itself as inclusive, its candidates should model that in how they speak and act.

Dave’s Response: Kia ora Kelly, and thank you for raising this. You are entirely right about the broader point: casual comments about non-English names can reinforce hurtful norms. My intention at the debate was to highlight my own lack of awareness of TOP / Opportunity, through my inability to even pronounce Qiulae’s name, before listening to her speak and being thoroughly impressed by her leadership and vision. However, I fully acknowledge that poor phrasing on my part causes harm regardless of intent. For that, I apologise. Qiulae Wong is an exceptional party leader, and I am proud to stand alongside her. If we want to build a more inclusive political landscape, I completely agree that candidates need to model that in how we speak and listen. I appreciate you calling this out, and I will take it as a clear reminder to be far more mindful with my language in future. Dear Critical Critic, I'd like to tautoko a letter to the editor from Issue 20. So true! It's so hard to grab a Critic these days. Waiting for your Monday afternoon tutorial before arriving on campus seems to guarantee that a horde of rabid students gets their first. You watch in horror as they consume the physical print media, tearing it apart article-byarticle. Scary stuff. My 2-cent solution: grab your late Critic from the Marsh Study centre. The stand there is full all week. Legend has it that students there are so locked in, they don't even check their weekly star sign prediction. Insane.

From 颜如意/Rúyì Yán/Kelly Ngan

LETTERS POLICY Letters should be 150 words or fewer. The deadline is Thursday at 12pm. Get them into Critic by emailing us at critic@critic.co.nz. Letters of a serious nature directly addressing a specific group or individual will not be published under a pseudonym, except in extraordinary circumstances as negotiated with the Editors. Critic Te Ārohi reserves the right to edit, abridge, or decline letters without explanation. Frequently published correspondents in particular may find their letters abridged or excluded. Defamatory or otherwise illegal material will not be printed. We don’t fix the spelling or grammar in letters. If a letter writer looks stupid, it’s because they are.

NEWS

ISSUE 21

KARERE

KAWEPŪRONGO

07/09/2026

Benedict Ong To Be Trespassed From All OUSA Premises Ong is gone?

By Hanna Varrs

Editor // critic@critic.co.nz

ccording to a statement provided to Critic Te Ārohi from President Daniel Leamy, the Otago University Students’ Association (OUSA) plans to trespass Dunedin City Councillor Benedict Ong from “all OUSA premises” following reports from students alleging “inappropriate and unwanted behaviours.” Guess he won’t be getting his $5 lunch anytime soon.

At the time of print, Benedict had just CC'd Critic into an email chain with Univeristy Registrar David Clarke. The email chain contained a letter that outlined the University's proposal to also trespass Beendict, noting OUSA's complaints of "unwanted physical proximity", being in U-Bar and St David's late at night and overall "not listening" to students when they expressed feeling "uncomfortable or unsafe".

In a letter sent to Vice-Chancellor Grant Robertson on the 1st of September, OUSA urged the University to trespass Ong as well. “OUSA takes student wellbeing incredibly seriously, as such we have considered the options and concluded that OUSA will trespass councillor Ong. We encourage the university to do so as well.”

"There are clear false and defamatory claims/statements made against me in this letter," Benedict replied.

When approached for comment on the 2nd of September, Benedict posted this author’s request for comment on his Facebook page within 13 minutes. “I am in a Council meeting now but obviously there is once again another politically motivated false attack against me because of the support I have across our Community and a number of my statements in my posts,” he posted above the request. When Critic commented on his Facebook post saying that we were still seeking comment, he responded that “You have read my response above in the first sentence. D’uh.” As explained in the letter, OUSA suggested that Ong’s “behaviour towards students” on campus had led to students reporting that they felt “uncomfortable and unsafe”. Those complaints had reportedly come from a variety of students over the course of 2026. “OUSA has received numerous complaints from students regarding Councillor Benedict Ong,” Daniel said. “We would therefore like to submit an official complaint to the University, on behalf of the student community.”

Benedict Ong has been a controversial character ever since he became an Ōtepoti Dunedin City Councillor last October. Born in Dunedin, Ong moved back to our most special city in June of last year following his tenure as a private international banker. He was ranked as the 12th most popular candidate voted on to council. Since then, Ong has laid code of conduct complaints against others, received (many) code of conduct complaints, worn tape across his mouth when being escorted out of a council meeting and been asked to resign. Now he is unwelcome at our most special university. According to Daniel, this trespass reflects OUSA’s commitment to preventing student harm and ensuring students feel safe and supported whilst in all OUSA facilities. “We also urge the University to follow suit in the interests of student wellbeing. While the University campus and OUSA premises are open to the public, we believe all reasonable steps should be taken to ensure students feel safe on campus.” “OUSA’s primary concern is the safety and wellbeing of students,” Daniel said. He encourages any students who have experienced inappropriate behaviour to seek support, including through the OUSA Student Support Centre. ★

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Investigation: What Was That Nursing UoO Confession Post About? The aftermath of the "Likes are not anonymous" saga

n anonymous post, titled "Dear Otago Poly Nursing… are we okay?" appeared on the University of Otago (UoO) Meaningful Confessions page on the 22nd of July. The post complained that nursing students were being "emotionally humbled" by marking, bad lecturers and inconsistent, recycled lecture content, among other things.

from the Polytech, stating that nursing professionals and nursing ākonga needed to meet Nursing Council social media guidelines, which appeared to be the reasoning behind why the original post had been a problem. Every nursing student Critic spoke to agreed that the Nursing Council guidelines were “pretty strict” and "drilled into" them during their studies. However, Trish was confused why anonymous feedback ran up against the guidelines.

Lengthy complaints are the bread and butter of UoO Confessions. But in this case, a mere two hours and forty-seven minutes later, every Otago Polytech nursing student received a private message from their department. This message, seen by Critic Te Ārohi, asked students to consider their online presence carefully, and direct their feedback to lecturers or Student Success.

Nursing is different from other courses. According to Brianna, the Nursing Council's rules were "strict" because nursing is a “very public profession”. However, according to her, the professional obligations around social media are mostly concerned with never, ever breaching patient confidentiality, and not appearing "on the piss" in nursing/Polytech scrubs. As such, Trish expressed her frustration that the original UoO Confession got any kickback at all. In her view, it had nothing to do with patients, and contained no identifiable details regarding the complainant or lecturers. Trish conceded that how "you present yourself as a nurse" is important for "public trust toward the profession" but noted that her cohort are still students.

"It has come to the school's attention that comments about, and critique of, [Otago Polytechnic's Bachelor of Nursing] Programme (including comments about lecture content, lecturers, placement allocations and support of students) are being posted online,” the message read. “While the original post seen this morning is anonymous, the 'likes' are not anonymous." Apparently UoO Confessions is a favourite for staff and students alike.

Basically, this discourse has really confused a lot of nursing tauira about what is or isn’t allowed on social media. Trish thought the guidelines were just that – a way of training nursing students to the standard they would be held to in the workforce, but not actual rules enforced during their period of study. On the other hand, Brianna spoke to unspoken customs behind the guidelines. According to her, nursing has a culture that encourages advocacy for patients, but "everybody knows everybody [in the profession]. So don't make a fuss." A registered nurse also offered her spin to Critic: "no one wants a militant doctor, nurse, or teacher."

The message was posted in full to UoO Confessions a week later on the 5th of August, with the Otago Daily Times and Free Speech Union covering the story in no time. While the original 22nd July post received 222 reactions, the post with the message got 332, making it the 2nd most engaged-with post so far on UoO Confessions this year. Safe to say, saying “The ‘likes’ are not anonymous" did not have the intended effect. The head of nursing has since apologised for this phrasing to the ODT and Free Speech Union, maintaining that they were just "trying to look after the best interests of our students." In any case, the new Confessions post expressed anxiety that the Polytech had given "[no] reassurance that students would be safe from retaliation" for posting, or even for liking the posts. When approached with this concern, Hayden Croft, the Polytech's Head of College for the College of Health, stressed that "whilst we would hope that any concerns could be raised via [the usual] channels for our students before they felt that they needed to try voicing them elsewhere to gain traction, public criticism of any Otago Polytechnic programme or service would not be grounds for expulsion." Still, the complaints outlined in the original post remain. But Critic has found the nursing school divided, with students offering varying opinions about the state of their schooling. Brianna*, a third-year nursing student, told us that the post that publicised the department’s message wasn’t quite accurate. The post had said that the Polytech hadn’t given an "invitation for anonymous feedback”, but the Polytech admin actually had followed up with an anonymous survey and arranged a class rep meeting on the 24th and 30th of July – well before the August 5th UoO Confessions post. Trish*, a second-year nursing student who fully agreed with the original Confessions post, was still agitated weeks later. She brought up a 24th of July departmental message she’d received

By Harry Almey

Staff Writer // news@critic.co.nz

Hayden Croft, Head of the College of Health at Otago Polytechnic, helpfully clarified this bind. Student nurses are not actually registered, practising nurses, and as such Nursing Council rules do not mention them or explicitly bind them — although students still must adhere to their educational institution’s policies and rules. Croft, however, told Critic that the Council is the regulatory body of the Bachelor of Nursing programme, and holds it to a certain standard. So student nurses must also follow the Council's codes of conduct, which require professional behaviour online, as well as in hospital workplaces. The NZ Nurses Organisation more explicitly sets out the common rules covering both student and registered nurses, such as "do not make disparaging comments about teachers”, and that those standards are "assessed from the first year of nursing education”. Some students got that. Charlotte*, a first-year student, had "held [her] tongue" around friends who were in favour of the original post, and were apparently "very disparaging" about the nursing programme in general. Privately, she felt that the matter “shouldn't have been taken to Facebook [...] I do think it was very childish." She thought the original post violated social media guidelines by "bashing the institution" in a way that made "Otago Polytechnic look shady and untrustworthy," and other nursing students by proxy. That upset her. "Because we're not shady. I'm trustworthy. I'm just trying to get my degree and be a good nurse."

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NEWS Brianna had been "pissed off" by the "likes are not anonymous" message, calling the phrasing “a soft threat." Nevertheless, she dismissed some bits of the original post from her perspective as a third-year student. On complaints about tough assessments, critical feedback, and uneven lecturer skill, Brianna simply said, "welcome to tertiary study." So if a first-year and a third-year can both agree that the complaints were kind of overblown, why the public meltdown on UoO Confessions? After all, the last complaint voiced on UoO Confessions about nursing was literally in 2022, when everyone was shitting themselves over COVID. It’s been a minute without any big online discourse about the programme. Trish points her finger at the curriculum, which she feels her cohort are being used as "guinea pigs" for. While she stressed she wasn't blaming individual lecturers, she described it as "incoherent” and “disorganised" with repeated, recycled lecture content. Trish and other second-years apparently want a way to talk to the person who designs the curriculum, not just the lecturers.

KARERE your thoughts about your placement, but I do not have 'spare' placements to move people into." This post got much less traction — besides a comment from an account made that same day warning the anonymous poster that "news travels fast in the healthcare sector." But the post has reached anxious second-years, like Trish. She says nurses on her placement have told her that "if you want to be popped in the deep end with little to no support, stay in New Zealand." Polytech's Hayden Croft told Critic that clinical lecturers are available for academic support visits during placements, and that a variety of scholarships exist for financial support. However, not all students receive scholarship support. As such, Trish thinks many are "not privileged enough" to sustain themselves in these placements. Trish, Charlotte, Brianna and all the students we spoke to have claimed to have heard placement horror stories: students having to camp in tents near hospitals, or sleep in caravans on placement, all while hearing of a marked increase in abuse towards nurses.

Critic reached out to OPSA about whether they had received any complaints from class reps, or whether the Polytech was listening to class reps, but received no response by the time of print.

Every nursing student we spoke to was "painfully aware" that it's a tough time for nursing in New Zealand right now. The Government claims that over the last three years, 2,100 nurses have been hired. That runs in stark contrast to what Simeon Brown, the Minister of Health, admitted in parliament on 19 August: between March 2024 and March 2026, nursing has only grown by 54 FTE (full-time equivalent), a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person. That does not account for high nursing turnover (8-13%). The Opposition claims this as evidence of a "hiring freeze", which the Coalition Government has claimed does not affect frontline healthcare workers. The statistics may be contested and debated, but those concerned are at best demoralised and at worst packing their bags for Australia.

Charlotte and Brianna placed the problem elsewhere. Brianna was more sympathetic with the lecturers, claiming they were under work pressures because "a lot [of staff] have been made redundant." Charlotte said studying nursing has always been "rigorous" and that she estimated 10% of her first-year tutorial group had dropped out and second-years were just being "unprofessional" on UoO Confessions. However, the Polytech's Hayden Croft denies both of these claims. He asserts that, across 2025-2026, course retention for the Bachelor of Nursing increased by 3.9%, that no redundancies had been made at a departmental or teaching level in the last three years, with vacancies filled as they arise. So maybe the problem lies elsewhere.

Trish said that while she doesn't "necessarily sit down and go, 'oh, at the end of this, I might not get a job’'' it is definitely something that sits in the back of her mind. She thinks it’s “no wonder” graduates are legging it across the ditch. “In Australia you'll be way more supported. You'll get a job in the field you want to do. They talk to us about nursing retention and all this sort of stuff, but it wouldn't be a problem if, I don't know, if we were paid a liveable wage and if we had guaranteement of having a job after this." Trish said that with the combined stress of assessments, placements, changes to placement allocation, and the nurses shortage, the world was telling nursing students to "suck it up" and burnout. So she felt the original post wasn't about disparaging anyone, it was just saying, "Look, are we okay?"

Nursing students have to complete long placements at medical facilities throughout their course. Of these placements, the final 9-week transitional placement is most important – a springboard into active practice. The unpaid nature of these placements adds cost pressures to students, especially amid the current spike in fuel prices. This year, sortition for transitional placements has changed, exacerbating this stress. Previously, nursing students were asked to 'rank' individual transitional placement preferences, like geriatric or mental health, from 1 to 5. Now, students are asked to identify three 'gaps' in their experience.

Charlotte, the most opposed to the original post, agreed with Trish on this point: "It's very worrying to think that once we put in all this work – all our placement hours, get our degrees – we might not have a job. And even if we do get a job, we get treated really badly for minimal pay." Apparently, the negative press coverage was "brought up quite a lot" when she spoke with other nursing students. "A lot of us plan on moving overseas, where we'll hopefully get treated better – but it's the same over there. Nurses are just treated poorly. It's just a fact."

The Otago Polytech told Critic that they want to guide feedback like this off social media, and toward the School of Nursing leadership, the Otago Polytechnic Students' Association (OPSA), the Polytech concerns and complaints policy, or student class representatives. However, Trish dismissed turning to class reps for support: "how much can a class rep do if they're so tied to the lecturers [...] We can't really 100% voice our concerns to them."

Third-year Brianna felt the new questionnaire made transitional placement look "more of a luck of the draw." Students care immensely about which ward they are sent to because it has a large bearing on which nursing field they get hired into. While Hayden Croft maintains the "answers that our students give within the survey are taken into account when transitional placements are allocated – dependent on placement availability," Brianna and Trish both claimed that these are not taken into account, and that the change is driven by a need to put nursing students "wherever" because there are "less placements" to go around. This change seems to be driving some stress. A third UoO Confession alleged a Polytech staff member had said (regarding transitional placements) that they could “help you to 'reframe'

Charlotte already knew about many of the problems in nursing because her mum does it, but despite them, nursing is still her passion. “I have never been more passionate about anything in my life,” she shared. "You can't be doing it for the money. You have to be doing it because you want to help people. Doctors diagnose, and nurses cure." For Trish, her reasons for being angry and not jumping ship were the same: "We've dedicated our lives to this." Hayden Croft wants students to know that learner experience and wellbeing is Otago Polytechnic’s “top priority” and that they welcome feedback. “We will continue to ensure the voices of our students are heard at every opportunity.” *Names changed ★

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Photo by Beth Sunderland

Monkey See, Monkey Do, Monkey Win A sit down with the winners of Bring the Noise

ring the Noise wrapped up with a splash as seven musicians and bands went head to head for a prize pack that was essentially the wet dream for any up and coming musician. This consisted of a promo pact with Radio One, a Sublime Studios recording package valued at $2500, a Lil Sister/NicNak PR package, a merchandise package by the Print Room NZ, a press photography package by K Frost photography, a logo design package by Daniel Wells design, a seminar with music industry professionals, and a cash prize of $500. Santa could never. Critic Te Ārohi is pleased to announce that this prize pack went to the alt-rock band Monkey Do. The four member band is made up of Rowan, the main lyricist on vocals and guitar, Pato on lead guitar, Mack on bass and vocals and Kam on drums. Rowan, Pato, and Mack met at Carrington College last year and formed the band within just a week of knowing each other. Kam joined them this year as their previous drummer was leaving, completing the line up that would go on to win this year's Bring the Noise. Like all the best Dunedin alt-rock bands, Monkey Do’s first gig was a Pint Night. However, unlike many student bands, Monkey Do has always been determined to play as many originals as possible. Capping their gigs to three covers at most, they credited this approach with helping them cultivate a bit of a local fanbase. This fanbase was on full display during the Bring the Noise finals. Opting to play three of their own hit songs, they kicked off with Satellite (Queens Drive), transitioning into Melt (an extra special song because it was the first ever song they wrote together as a band), and finally The Novelty (Will Wear Off). Despite being first up in the setlist, they band were surprised to still find a decent turnout – adding that this audience engagement really helped boost their confidence and performance. In terms of their competition, they humbly commented that it must have been a tight choice for the judges as everyone "brought their A-game”, and that "everyone [was] so talented, and deserving of the opportunity that we got."

By Saraia Allais

Staff Writer // news@critic.co.nz

They praised Bring the Noise as an awesome opportunity to bring artists from all walks of life together and expose audiences to a range of sounds in the Dunedin scene. They commented that competitions like this allow audiences to see the best 20 minutes of each artist, and “no matter what you do, people are going to be supportive.” They further praised the competition and the other musicians, stating that Bring the Noise was “one of the coolest gigs that [we’ve] been to in [our] time here." Monkey Do’s biggest inspiration and motivations are the musicians around them, with Bring the Noise being the perfect chance "to meaningfully be a part of the Dunedin [music] scene.” They loved the wide range of music being showcased at the competition, especially the rising rap scene, and said that they had definitely broadened their horizons just from watching the other musicians. The music on display at U-Bar is far more diverse than just surf-rock indie these days. In terms of aspirations for the band, their future looks bright. They have an album in the works which they’re hoping to release on digital and physical media next year. They are also keen to promote the release with stickers, shirts, socks and condoms, so keep your eyes peeled for some Monkey Do merch. Another big plan in the works is an album release tour, with Monkey Do hoping to expand their reach outside of Dunedin. “A band road trip is a right of passage,” they explained. While they love being a part of the Dunedin sound, and think that “some of the most interesting and exciting music ever is in Dunedin", they plan to reach a wider audience – even if that just means “playing in Wellington to 10 people.” It’s safe to say Monkey Do has definitely made up for their self-described “kind of shit” performance last year at Bring the Noise. If you missed the finals, or just want more of Monkey Do, they promised to do at least two more gigs this year and already have a single out on Spotify. Make sure to check these rising stars out! As for final comments, the band just wanted to say “thank you Dunedin music”, which is almost too wholesome for our little hearts at Critic Te Ārohi. ★

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n Cockley

Fin By Grey-

it y Cracks Down On 21st Season Univers In response to slipping academic performance in semester two, the University has recently announced plans to “crack down on 21st season” that is currently dominating the student social calendar. Plans to limit the number of 21st events were passed by the University Senate last week, and were backed by police, OUSA and the City Council. Under this policy, Union Hall and the Main Common Room will host a weekly 21st celebration in semester two. In a statement to Critical Tribune, a University spokesperson said the rationale underpinning the decision was “students getting too overwhelmed with Facebook invites, and the impossible decision of which of three 21sts to hit on a given weekend”. Under the new plans, the University will automatically group every student turning twenty-one in a given week for a combined celebration. OUSA Student Support backed the move, telling Critic that they had seen a “record increase in distressed students wanting to study, but feeling the moral obligation to ‘show face’ at their mate’s 21st”. Now, with only one 21st each weekend, there is more time to study, and less time wasted frantically dashing between flats, sports clubs and function rooms in the effort of being a good friend. However, some students have not taken the proposal well. Critical Tribune understands most of the controversy has arisen from strict new rules on 21st speeches. With up to twenty students now forced to have a combined 21st, each student only gets to nominate one person to give a thirty second speech. One student, James Yardie, said that the announcement has already led to conflict between his flatmates and missus: “No matter who I choose for the speech, everybody else is gonna feel shafted”. In response to the critiques, a

University spokesperson explained that “modelling of the combined 21st models shows that twenty thirty second speeches is actually quicker than five people taking their sweet time with speeches. This is actually good for student wellbeing, as we all know how cooked their attention spans are.” Another group firmly in opposition to the proposal are local venues around town, faced with a University monopoly over celebrations. Many local bars and clubs are now facing closures on Saturday nights, as half of the student population will be in the Main Common Room for their mate’s big day. “If this is the closest we’re getting to a student bar, then fuck this,” complained an anonymous bartender at a 21st venue hotspot. With Saturday nights firmly reserved for 21st season, this now leaves Thursday and Friday nights free for tauira to work on their studies. However, the University’s plans haven’t stopped there, with a partnership with Public Health Researchers announced to curb 21sts happening in September. “Simply too many parents are shagging at Christmas, resulting in late-September babies, with no consideration of how congested it makes the 21st season down the track,” explained Professor Bag. Public health messaging will be put out, encouraging prospective parents to “wait a little bit longer” and hoping to spread the distribution of birthdays into something more uniform. In future generations, this will mean there won’t be a 21st season – leaving more time to study for those pesky semester two exams. Anticipating backlash, the University has assured attendance at the combined 21sts will be free, and subsidised drinks will be available for $5 a pop, pending future inflation. When asked if yardies will be allowed at the new 21st format, the University simply replied “you’re dreaming, mate.”★

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Illustrated by Emily Ng

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By Saraia Allais

Gen Z and the age of parasocial relationships

Illustrated by Eddie Fenton

Every morning I wake up and check in on my friends. One’s in New York making a protein smoothie. Another's in LA getting her biweekly spray tan. A third is in London telling me how their ex traumatized them. None of these people know who I am. I’m spending my time watching them rather than hanging out with my actual friends. Honestly, I probably spend more time “catching up” with my favourite influencers than I do with my own sister. If I disappeared tomorrow, though, my digital “friends” would continue uploading two-part GRWMs everyday. The funny thing is, this isn’t just me – I hope. It’s part of a much wider shift in how Gen Z relates to people online. It's not just that we’ve become obsessed with celebrities like our mothers were with John from the Beatles. Instead, we’ve become accustomed to building one-sided relationships with people we see everyday. This isn’t necessarily anyone's fault. Smart phones and social media have saturated our lives with other people’s faces, voices, problems, and morning routines. But what does that actually do to us? Should we copy the Critic Editor, buy flip phones and disappear into the bushes? Probably not. To be clear, this isn’t another “Gen Z’s fucked” or “all we do is scroll” lecture. What interests me is how the internet has changed what friendship feels like – not by replacing our real relationships, but by surrounding us with hundreds of one-sided ones.

The Friend in Your Pocket

The National Library of Medicine defines parasocial relationships as “nonreciprocal socio-emotional connections with media figures such as celebrities or influencers.” This phenomenon was coined by researchers Donald Horton and Richard Wohl in 1956 to describe people's perceived relationships with media personalities. Back then, this largely meant viewers feeling like they “knew” the person talking to them through the television.

Today, though, social media doesn't just let us watch people. It deliberately creates the feeling that we’re participating in their lives.

There used to be a very obvious line between us and the screen. Taylor Swift wasn’t talking to you personally; she was talking to reporters. Angelina Jolie wasn’t your friend; she was a hot woman on a cinema screen. Becoming deeply certain that a celebrity personally knew or cared about you was, generally speaking, considered a bit cooked. Influencers are different. They're not presenting themselves as some celebrity out of our reach but rather as everyday people like you and me. They talk directly to their cameras from their bedrooms and bathrooms. They ask: “What should I name my new puppy?” “What outfit should I wear to this wedding?” “What would you do in my position?” Comment sections have become less of an audience and more of a group chat. They reply, they like and they pin. We are no longer simply consuming content. We’re being invited to actively participate in their life – and we eat it up. That’s part of what makes influencer culture so different from the old-school celebrity culture that inspired the OG idea of parasocial relationships. It’s not so much one person becoming widely obsessed with one celebrity. It can be dozens – even hundred – of tiny one sided connections accumulated during one scroll session before bed. Most of them only last the length of the video. If you saw half these people walking down George Street, would you even recognise them? And yet, for 40 seconds, you've listened to their break-up story, decided whether their ex sucks, chosen which dress they should wear and emotionally invested yourself in whether their cousin’s wedding will have vegetarian options. The relationship is still one-sided, but social media makes that one side feel surprisingly intimate.

The Loneliness Economy

Okay, so we’re all emotionally invested in the little people inside our phones. Why? Well, the science is simple: we’re lonely. Gen Z consistently reports high levels of loneliness. One survey by GWI found that only 15% of Gen Z said they had never felt lonely in the previous year, compared with 54% of Baby Boomers. Okay Boomers! Friendmog us! Great news, obviously. And I hate to say it, but it gets worse. When the science says we’re lonely, companies hear another thing to capitalise. The loneliness economy is basically the market that has sprung up around people having fewer meaningful social connections and more money to spend trying to feel less weird about it. We’re sad, socially fucked, and apparently exteremly susceptable to monetisation. The intimacy influencers cultivate isn't just good for our lonely little hearts – it’s good for business, too. A 2024 study analysing 7,285 Instagram posts from 215 fashion and beauty influencers found that stronger interactions between influencers and followers were associated with stronger parasocial relationships. Which makes sense. If a random skincare ad tells you to buy a $70 moisturiser, you scroll past. If your Internet bestie tells you it “literally saved her skin” while sitting cross-legged on her bathroom floor in pyjamas, suddenly your Afterpay account is in danger. The most obvious place to observe the loneliness economy is, of course, in the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Chatbots are no longer things you use when you need to figure out how to cancel a subscription. They’re advisers, therapists, and sometimes the only one who will reply to you at ridiculouso'clock in the morning when everyone else in your flat is asleep — or loudly having sex and reminding you that you are, in fact, alone. Using ChatGPT as your friend or therapist is already embarrassingly mainstream, so we naturally have AI

made specifically for emotional companionship. Replika markets itself as an AI companion, while Character.AI lets you become emotionally intimate with basically anyone your Internetpoisoned heart desires. Fictional characters, celebrities, anime waifus, morally questionable daddies – you freaks know who you are. Millions of people are using these things, which probably says less about us being uniquely deranged and more about how appealing it is to talk to something that is always available, always interesting, and never says “Sorry!!! just saw this” three days later. The less obvious version is online body doubling. Your favourite “Study with me” YouTuber, Lofi Girl, or random person livestreaming themselves doing readings in a library all give you the feeling that someone else is there suffering alongside you. A 2026 study about “study with me” videos found that features designed to increase the sense of another person's presence were associated with greater concentration, lower loneliness and stronger persistence with studying. So yes – watching a stranger highlight articles for three hours might actually help you finish your own readings. Central Library could probably just project a giant Lofi Girl onto the wall and save us all. It gets weirder when the apps themselves start acting like your friends. I woke up this morning, checked my phone and had no messages from family or friends. Duolingo, however, was proud of me. Some animated owl is telling me I'm doing amazing. My fitness app is telling me not to break my streak, and some cartoon creature would be disappointed in me if I didn't take my vitamins. These products are selling us companionship without the inconvenience of another human being. Companies didn't create our loneliness, but they’ve become very good at profiting off of filling in the gaps.

Go Outside, Loser

On a less grim note, parasocial relationships aren't inherently bad. There's nothing wrong with having a favourite YouTuber, using a study buddy app, or even getting weirdly emotionally invested in an influencer's break-up. Research has found parasocial relationships can provide feelings of connection and community, help people cope and even support identity exploration. The issue is when the fake-easy friendships start becoming more appealing than the real-hard ones. Real friendships are less convenient. You can’t pause your flatmate because they're telling you the same story for the fourth time, double-tap your sister’s breakdown and move on, or fast forward on your overly chatty friend. Real people require admin. Showing up, listening, engaging, compromise, and occasionally leaving your room and having a shower. That’s also why they’re better. None of this is revolutionary. A How To Make Friends guide has existed on WikiHow for over a decade. The way to make friends hasn't fundamentally changed – we've just got infinitely more convenient alternatives now. Parasocial relationships haven't exploded because Gen Z is uniquely obsessed with celebrities or particularly socially useless. They've exploded because the internet has turned ordinary people, apps, and even AI into a constant, reliable, easy source of companionship. Real friendship, unfortunately, still requires leaving your room and risking being perceived. But don’t stress too much – half of the friendships in Dunedin are just repeatedly seeing the same person in different contexts until eventually you both give up and become mates. Get out there! Anyways. I’m going to go ask my sister to get lunch with me now.

CULTURE

AHUREA

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Relationships are out. Brunch is in. Everyone knows it. But what about those brave soldiers trapped somewhere in the in-between, balancing the orgasmic elation of overpriced breakfast foods, with the heavy burden of commitment, codependence and having regular sex with the same person? Don’t stress, queen. The Brunch Theory is here to tell you whether your relationship is destined for marriage, mutual resentment, or an awkward walk home down George Street.

The Olive Theory had its moment. Originating from How I Met Your Mother, the concept suggests compatibility when one lover loves olives and one lover hates them. Then abracadabra – you're married with three kids and some genetically modified handbag dog. In other words, opposites attract. But olives are expensive, tiny, and a bitch to find at Pak’nSave. You know what’s arguably more expensive, slightly less tiny, and more relevant to the average Dunedin student battling a hangover at 11am? Brunch! The work of the gods. The death of your weekly budget. The one meal where spending $27 on two eggs and half an avocado feels completely reasonable. Maybe you're stuck in the shackles of a long-term relationship. Better yet, you’re lost in the emotional turmoil of an undefined, underground, sexually tantalizing situationship that neither of you will acknowledge while the sun still shines. Or maybe you're simply bored and attempting to calculate the romantic prospects of the fellow table-for-one sitting on the other side of the café. Either way, you’ve been searching for a sign from the universe, a reason to dump, devote or make that first move. Forget star signs, attachment styles, or whatever your flatmate learned from TikTok about psychology this week. The answer is sitting right there on their plate.

French Toast + Eggs Benedict The classic. The OG combo. The foundation upon which the entire Brunch Theory rests. If one of you orders French toast and the other eggs Benedict, congratulations: you’ve passed the first test. While not determinative, this is certainly a step in the right direction. Sweet and savoury. Yin and yang. Olivelover and olive-hater. Magnets are real, guys. Opposites really do attract and most sane people don’t actually want to date themselves. More importantly, you’ve both committed to the realmeal end of the menu. Neither of you has opted for a muffin from the cabinet or insisted "I'm not actually that hungry” while eating half the other person’s meal. You may have sold an arm, a leg, and approximately an hour and a half of minimum-wage labour for breakfast, but you’ve done it together. That tiny café table is going to look real gorgeous covered in deep shades of berry

blue and eggy yellow – almost as gorgeous as the wellrounded, over achieving child you two would pop out. But be safe, brunch-munchers – always use protection.

Cabinet Split & Share Picture entering the bustling ecosystem of a café, Sunday at 11am. The cabinet and its bounty is overwhelming, glinting behind obscene prices written in beautiful handwriting. You’re floundering under the pressure to choose as the line shrinks before you. The warm, welcoming lighting, the hum of the blender, the smell of crisp bacon and coffee grounds. It’s all becoming too much, when a melodic voice pierces through the haze of confusion: “Wanna split and share?” It’s the second coming of Christ. One buys the savoury, one buys the sweet. The best of both worlds. Two for the price of one. Infinite happiness – even Hannah Montanna can attest to that. You have peaked – literally. You better snatch this one up and head straight to the altar, as this is as rare as getting the special Labubu. Just imagine it for a second: never having to pick between a BLT and a cinnamon scroll ever again. If your sex life isn’t exciting, then at least your brunch life is. Now that is orgasmic.

Egg Preference Eggs are difficult. Which came first, the egg-ick or the ick? It’s a mystery no one knows the answer to. But we can make it work. Rule of thumb: if your eggs can co-exist in the same pan, then so can you. Probably. Trust the process, and no human nor egg will ever trigger your gagreflex again. In a bad way, that is. Scrambled and fried. Same egg, different font. Good combo. While the signs are hazy, it’s probably safe to say that you match each other's vibe. A little bit messy, a little bit all over the place, but a good balance of flavour to aesthetic appeal. Scrambled and poached. Not good. Pretty bad, in fact. While a relationship of true strength may be capable of withstanding such a rift in connection, your one probably isn’t. Although it may be possible to look past your partner’s questionable political beliefs, egg ideology is a real thing that should not be ignored. There will be consequences, so escape while you can.

CULTURE WARNING: If your partner ever sends an egg back (or any other plate for that matter) you’ve probably picked what we call in the business of Bruch Theories a ‘Trojan Millennial’. It’s all good, we’ve all made that mistake. If you take them back to the Brunch Gods with the receipt, you might get a refund. Regardless, you should probably ditch and run, as such confrontation is not conducive to a safe brunch space and should be avoided at all costs.

Nothing “I’m all good but you should totally get something”. Silence. Betrayal. The modern day equivalent of saying someone should go on The Biggest Loser.

AHUREA How dare they. How dare they taint the beauty of brunch with the cardinal sin of refusal. This shit ain’t negotiable. Why would you even come out if you weren’t going to get brunch? Anyone who is incapable of understanding the gravity of such a claim is clearly incapable of emotion. Fuck that. Find another. They don’t understand the grindset.

The Plain Banana Smoothie Immediate veto. Stand up, run away, and never look back. You will probably have to get a new identity, start a new life, move to somewhere equally (if not more) remote than the West Coast. No explanation on the reasoning behind this one is needed. It’s a gut thing.

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FEATURE

AHUATANGA

By Stella Weston

I know that students have pretty strong feelings about artificial intelligence. “FUCK AI”. “Just admit you can’t think for yourself, you smooth-brained twat”. “Never, AI should be destroyed [...] AI should be banned, all information about how it can be built should be destroyed, all of the heads and engineers for AI companies should get life in prison for, among other things, copyright and IP theft, and the incalculable social harms caused by AI. People who outsource their thinking to machines should be sent to inpatient psychiatric facilities until they are judged capable to return to society.” Those were all responses Critic Te Ārohi received in the 2026 Critic Census this year. Despite those big feelings, 74.4% of students who filled out the Census actually do use artificial intelligence (AI), which was an increase from 65.6% in 2024. So, no matter if you use it or not, artificial intelligence is here. It sits next to you at the library, behind your lecture slides and within your essays. AI exists, it’s impressive, and it’s a bit fucking scary. When things are scary, I think it’s natural we turn to some kind of flight, fight, or freeze. Staring down the barrel of innovation is terrifying, and I sometimes think that AI might be the bullet to end it all. You could run from it, you could fight it, or you could just stare. But none of those three options will make AI go away, so I guess the next move is to figure out where AI fits. If there is one way to conquer a crippling fear of the unknown, it is to learn about it.

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Unfortunately, there are so many controversies and issues surrounding AI that I think it’s become incredibly difficult to work out the actual facts. I’m stressed, so to help me out with breaking all of this down, I’ve called in some backup. But instead of asking ChatGPT for any of this information, I just brought along some water bottles to the interviews I conducted with some very informed people and went crazy.

FEATURE I’ll choose a definition that’s directly relevant to students. The University of Otago’s AI Governance Policy describes artificial intelligence as “[a]ny technology or tool that uses data to make inferences and generate outputs such as predictions, recommendations, decisions, or content (text, images, video, code) with a degree of autonomy.” Basically, the most accessible forms of AI (such as ChatGPT), are large language models (LLMs), a form of generative AI. These get trained on a whole lot of text, which they break down into small words (called tokens). The models then analyse the patterns present in these tokens, and when prompted, can provide a response that’s just the most statistically likely pattern of tokens. In order to do this, AI needs a fuckton of this training data. A model’s effectiveness depends on the quality and breadth of the training data it feeds on. This concept is pretty intuitive – someone who picks up a Critic every week would be better at guessing our content for next week than someone who only just picked an issue up for the first time. There are, of course, other forms of AI, many of which were commonplace before ChatGPT was around – such as more traditional and analytic AI tools, like Grammarly’s writing assistant. We will focus on the more mainstream generative AI that seems to have really exploded in just a few years. AI in academics is probably one of the most topical applications of AI for students. There are a tonne of established problems with using AI in this area, and even more grey areas. As such, we approached Dr Gleb Tsipursky, a behavioural scientist and author of the peerreviewed book, The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results, published by Georgetown University Press. His work and commentary have appeared regularly in newspapers including The New York Times, the Toronto Star, the New York Daily News, and The Plain Dealer in Cleveland. And now Critic Te Ārohi! He should be extra proud of that one. Gleb expects AI to become a normal intellectual tool within the future of academia. “But that raises the value of the human capabilities around the tool,” he added. Students will need to get better at framing questions, evaluating evidence, identifying weak assumptions, checking sources, making ethical judgments, and knowing when an answer deserves trust. “Universities should teach both AIenabled performance and tool-off competence,” Gleb explained.

AHUATANGA “Someone who can produce better work with AI but cannot detect a confident error is not yet competent in the way an employer, patient, client, or citizen will need them to be.” The first problem with applying AI competently in academic settings is their tendency to hallucinate – presenting false or misleading information as fact. We’ve all seen examples of this: Reels depicting AI models answering “how many r’s in ‘strawberry?’” wrong, AI offering up citations that don’t exist, or, much more concerningly, real life lawyers presenting real life court filings with fabricated case law. This is due to the predictive nature of LLMs. If they’re always working off patterns and the most likely response, they’re going to fuck up sometimes. This is undoubtedly a problem, especially when using AI to explain learning concepts without providing sources. LLMs rely on complex math and unfathomable amounts of training data to produce fluent, plausible answers. However, according to Gleb, that process is undertaken “without any built-in guarantee that the claims are true”. In this way, AI is a bit of a black box. It won’t necessarily tell us why it answered the way it did, and that makes it hard to identify and correct its mistakes for both users and programmers. But, even if we did understand the internal mechanics of an AI perfectly, we would still need to verify what it tells us against reliable evidence. The second problem is that AI is generally really good at what it does. In Adults (the best show ever), a teacher is marking essays and remarks that “they’re all AI. It’s just how good the AI is that I’m grading.” That’s real. AI is good, and it’s getting better faster than any AI-checker or plagiarism detection system can keep up with. At the start of the COVID lockdown in 2020, around when AI first started coming out, everyone could cheat remotely with ease. AI checkers emerged, and they were alright-ish, but AI models got better, faster. Current students watched AI evolve unbelievably quickly, from being fairly obvious and often shit at answering questions or completing assignments, to being pretty much unidentifiable. Here’s where the academic problem lies. Personally, I haven’t written a single essay this year. That’s pretty unusual coming from someone studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics and Psychology. I’ve seen a lot of different ways lecturers have been trying to deal with this whole AI problem. I’ve had an assignment that encouraged me to prompt an LLM to write a lab report, and then critique it. I’ve had a midterm essay changed to a twenty minute one-onone chat with my lecturer. Sometimes I feel like we’re all just as confused as each other when it comes to if and how AI can be responsibly applied in academics. According to the Census, the most common uses for AI include learning concepts or studying (57.8%),

FEATURE planning, writing, and/or editing assignments (39.2%), as a replacement for Google or everyday use (17.2%), or as a friend or for advice (11.8%). If used right, AI is useful as fuck – a personalised tutor with infinite time for questions, a sounding board for essay structures or a way to help find studies to reference. In Gleb’s opinion, students should start by considering the purpose of the assignment before they use any AI. “If the assignment is meant to build a skill, students should not hand that skill over to AI before they have practiced it themselves,” he explained. Where AI use is permitted in assignment, you could use it to explain a difficult concept in another way, testing an argument, generating questions, suggesting an outline, or giving feedback on a draft. “But students should verify important claims against course material or primary sources, make the final intellectual decisions themselves, and be able to explain and defend what they submit without relying on the tool,” Gleb stressed. According to Gleb, a simple habit for students to ask themselves is what was the most important contribution AI made, how you checked it, what you changed after checking it and whether you could explain the reasoning behind it if the AI tool disappeared. “That turns verification into part of learning rather than an extra compliance exercise,” Gleb noted. I think you can identify a clear tension here. On one hand, learning needs to be protected – AI can all too easily be used in place of genuine effort, creativity and critical thinking. On the other hand, AI, when responsibly applied, could help you learn better and more in depth. Against that tension, the University’s official policy for student use is fucking confusing. It essentially outlines a case-by-case situation, noting that different papers, and even different assessments, have different guidelines. Students should check outputs they receive from LLMs, as they’re responsible for any errors or fabrications in generated material. Students should also be aware that “Gen-AIs have different capacities and limitations” and that responses may be biased as the models are trained on a monoculture of knowledge. LLMs also have a tendency to positively reinforce the user, providing skewed answers that are essentially what you want to hear. The case-by-case thing might feel like a bit of a cop out, but it’s more likely due to the simple fact that no one really knows what the answer to AI is. AI technology is evolving so fast that lecturers can’t know what the best thing is. Students are so paranoid about AI that a lot of us don’t even admit using it on AI disclaimers for assignments, even if they did use it completely appropriately. But again, fleeing

AHUATANGA and hiding from a scary thing won’t make it go away. AI is here to stay. Like with any controversial thing (drugs, alcohol, sex), AI should be regulated for harm reduction. The AI horse has bolted, and now the AI horsie needs credit on your essay. “I think institutions need much clearer assessmentlevel rules,” Gleb suggested. “Otago’s current guidance sensibly recognises that different papers and assessments may need different approaches, but the variation becomes frustrating when students cannot easily tell what applies.” Critically, Gleb dreams of a world where every assessment had accompanying guidance from lecturers that said whether AI is permitted, limited, or prohibited, what uses fall into

FEATURE that category, and why. “The reason matters, because students need to understand which capability the assessment is trying to develop.” In terms of the AI paranoia some students might be feeling, Gleb posited that universities should rely less on trying to catch students out for AI use after the fact and more on assessment design. “If independent mastery matters, use some combination of oral defense, in-class work, staged drafts, or follow-up questions that require students to explain their reasoning,” he suggested. If AI use is allowed, Gleb would ensure that disclosure is straightforward and psychologically safe. “Students who believe any admission of AI use will make them look suspicious have an incentive to hide even legitimate use, which makes responsible-use policies harder to enforce.” The University also has an AI Governance Policy, which lays out their own commitments as an institution. In short, these include a lot of references to ethical use, especially in terms of upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations, and sustainability targets. The University “acknowledges the inherent risks associated with AI” and commits to managing these, as well as ensuring that their policies evolve as the technology advances. Furthermore, while the University recognises that AI technologies present “significant opportunities to advance its mission, enhance operational excellence, and support innovation in research, teaching, and service delivery”, AI systems must be used to augment human capability, with “human judgment and oversight remaining central”. The full policy can be found on the University website. Overall, Gleb wants students to aim for a future of “dual competence”: students understand how to use AI to extend their capabilities and can still “understand the underlying domain well enough to challenge it”. For Gleb, that latter point is especially important. “AI can remove some of the routine work through which novices used to build judgment,” he explained. True – using AI will save you from trawling the internet for hours looking for a source to back up what you think is common knowledge, but that builds character. “Universities will need to redesign that learning deliberately, rather than assume expertise will emerge automatically.” At this point, I’m being told once a week that I’m never going to get a grad role, or even a career, because of AI. To console me, I contacted Professor Emeritus James Maclaurin. James is currently helping the University “think about AI [...] How we’re using it and what it means for us.” James trained as a philosopher, and now works in AI policy, which is a pretty awesome pipeline. He is the Director of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Public Policy (CAIPP) at the University of Otago – a group of interdisciplinary academics exploring “policy, regulation, ethics and governance associated with the implementation of artificial intelligence.”

AHUATANGA According to James, one thing about technologies is that they typically start out expensive, inefficient, and a bit shit. But, as we make more and develop them, people find easier, cheaper, and quicker ways to do so. This is known as Wright’s Law (yes, the airplane guy). For a species that fears what it does not know, this isn’t great for the psyche: Wright’s Law makes it “very difficult to know where [AI progress] is going to land”. Similarly, James referenced the Jevons Paradox, which emerged from observations of coal use during the Industrial Revolution. As steam engines became more and more coal efficient, people assumed less coal would be used overall. Instead, this increased resource efficiency meant using steam engines became cheaper, so they were used more, and so the overall use of coal actually increased. In short, learning to use a resource more efficiently actually increases consumption. According to James, this applies to people as well. “Iif you make people much more efficient at doing something, then that thing gets cheaper. And then people want more of it.” And so we end up using more of the resource – people. However, James conceded that things like checkout machines in supermarkets have cost people their jobs. “So, sometimes automation replaces jobs. Sometimes it replaces bits of jobs. When it replaces bits of jobs, it tends to make the rest of the job more valuable because you’re producing more. And that can be good for employment.” He emphasised that we don’t know how often this will be this case, or in which domains, so he wouldn’t say that’s a “magic bullet”. I’m pretty sure a magic bullet is something else entirely, but his point stands. James does agree there are domains where employment “seems to be going in the wrong direction”, where we see employers hiring fewer graduates. He said it’s hard to say at this stage whether this is due to companies choosing not to hire anyone in case they can replace that role with AI within the year, or simply a lack of information about how different types of work are going to be impacted. Each generation has had a big job loss scare – from factory automation to the internet, and now AI. The important thing to remember is that while junior-level employees and grad roles could theoretically be replaced with AI, this fucks an organisation’s talent pipeline. If you have no juniors, then that calls into question who will hold the senior roles in the future. On top of all this, AI will likely be a job sector that many students will end up employed in, especially if it continues to grow at the rate it currently is. Especially with something like AI that is so applicable to every field, students should look at AI as another key skill that they can learn. When faced with things that are spiraling wildly out of control, regulation is one way to try and curb the wildfire. However, the toughest part with regulation is how slow policy is developed compared to how fast AI evolves. According to James, by the time a policy has undergone consultations, and passed through ministers and public discussions over the course of a year, “the technology is ten times more powerful [...] than it was at the start of the year.”

FEATURE

AHUATANGA

AI concentrates power: once your company has a model, you’re in. And you’re fucking powerful. That’s just capitalism in general, though – the system rewards early adopters. Whoever is luckiest at the beginning of Monopoly is most likely to win. These AI companies are the fastest growing in human history, and the global economy over the last three years has been almost entirely built around the potential AI has for economic growth. Implementing policy will decentralise this, as well as slow the rapid advancement of this technology and give us some breathing room to actually develop some understanding.

When you think about how many times you’d prompt an LLM in one session, and then how often you have a session, and then multiply that by, say, the 74% of Otago students who use AI (15,000, give or take), let alone by usage across the whole world, those mLs start to be a pretty big number.

James compared AI to the Industrial Revolution, explaining how that was a transition of physical power – from human or beastly muscle to steam engines – and now we are living through a transition of intelligence. While the “original computing revolution [...] helped us with our thinking, it didn’t change the rate of thought, or the amount that we could think. Not in the way that the combustion engine suddenly changed everything.” The computer was just a rumble in the distance, and AI is the real storm.

Ignore the huge differences between these estimates for a moment, and let’s look at the lower estimate for both. Producing one ChatGPT search is around 0.32mL, and one beef patty is around 35,500mL. That’s about 111,000 ChatGPT queries to equal the cost of eating one burger (not including the bun), and over 222,000 queries to equal a post-town Cheesy Pleaser from Maccas. Even using the higher end of the other estimate for ChatGPT water use, it would still take at least 700 prompts to balance the cost of one burger.

It took us a long time for policy to catch up with the huge advancements society made during the Industrial Revolution, but we got there after a hundred years or so with the buzzy invention of things like the weekend and child labour laws. But this AI revolution is moving a whole lot faster already. “And so our policy response has got to be much better,” James insisted. He added that we undoubtedly know a lot more about technology and how it works than we did back then, “so the news isn’t all bad.” We might be a wee bit quicker off the mark this time.

Of course, this isn’t quite that clearcut of an issue: these are difficult estimates to make. The huge variation is due to how much of the process you factor into each calculation, and the differences in water. For example, beef uses a lot more recycled “green” water in production, whereas AI uses treated drinking “blue” water. A lot more water is also used in training AI than in prompting it, which makes it difficult to bring these numbers into an individual usage perspective.

Everyone’s read an article (watched a TikTok) about how bad AI is in terms of water use. According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, one ChatGPT search uses 0.32mL (1/15th of a teaspoon) of water. However, researchers that factored in water consumed for electricity generation and onsite computer cooling estimated one query using between 10mL and 50mL. For reference, the tequila shot you bought on Saturday for twelve whole dollars was 30mL.

But forget about ChatGPT for a second, and think about burgers. According to one fairly conservative study, the water footprint of producing a 150g beef burger patty is 35.5 litres. And, according to the Water Footprint Calculator, it’s about 2300 litres.

Basically, it’s easy to rag on the amount of water AI uses. While it is a lot, it’s important to look at it in context of the rest of our daily lives, and consider how we can reduce our impact on the environment in general.

FEATURE

AHUATANGA

Artists are scared. As a writer, I’m scared, and AI is already having some effects on how I write. For example, Critic continues to use grammatically wrong em dashes to avoid AI allegations (which we still get – fuck you guys). In terms of people rejecting AI, art has been one of the most intense examples. But, as James pointed out, this discourse still “isn’t on a scale that’s affecting the model makers.” AI art is already pretty common. From the AImade flyers in windows of small businesses all down George Street, to an AI-generated poster for DJ Pint Night, people are opting for an easy alternative to coaxing someone to fuck about in Canva. And people are upset about this. We’ve already talked about how AI is trained on a whole lot of data, and this has led to debates around the world about copyright issues, and what compensations authors should receive if their work is used for AI training. The New Zealand Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs is working on a potential copyright framework for generative AI, and is set to report back on this by the end of March in 2027. Again – policy is slow. James raised cases in courts of law around fair use, and the argument that if we get to read books, why shouldn’t AI? He thought that to be especially true if a model can remember and learn from the books better than we can. It’s complicated and confusing, and there are no right answers. On the other side of the argument, technology has always influenced art and music, creating new styles and shifting the fields in interesting and exciting ways. On top of that, it’s arguable that AI could actually make art more accessible for people to explore their passions, decreasing barriers associated with things like film making. Plus, tech is still keeping up with AI. Various platforms such as Nightshade allow artists to “poison” the metadata of the art they produce, meaning AI can’t see what human eyes can see and recreate it. Pretty neat. As well as all of this, AI has a whole lot of other pretty incredible applications that I haven’t even touched on. There’s AlphaFold, an AI system that can predict the 3D structure of a protein from its amino acid sequence that won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2024, or Anthropic’s mission to use AI to cure cancer. There are also a tonne of other debates, ranging from the psychological impacts and uses of AI, to the data centre being built in Southland. There’s just too much to get into here (though stay tuned for more on the data centre). In short, this technology has real potential for both good and harm. James admitted that he wished he could offer some better answers to all this. While he himself has signed a few petitions asking that we slow down on development and implementation of AI until we better understand the technology, he added that those petitions “don’t have an effect on industries that are just driven by vast amounts of money.”

James believes that “the answer in the face of radical change is always information, always to know more,” and that this is especially important for people who don’t like AI. He advised that we maintain skills that we don’t want to be replaced by AI – writing, art, coding – whatever it may be for you. And he advised that any young people nervous about AI should use AI. “Because no matter what happens, you’re going to be affected by it. And even if that’s a negative thing, the more you know, the better you’ll be.” Knowledge is power. If you went to the first OUSA Leaders Debate, you will have seen Penny Simmonds answer questions on AI literacy and data centre regulation with vague comments about how we all watch movies and use internet banking, and we don’t want to go back to the “dark-ages”, or have “our data being processed in the Middle East”. If this doesn’t highlight the complete lack of understanding around AI, I don’t know what does. Fact-check yourself, and try to understand viewpoints outside of your own algorithmic echo chambers. So I’ll say it again. AI is a dual-use, general purpose technology. James even compared it to electricity, emphasising that it “touches everybody and everything”. Importantly, all this also means you can’t actually just lay out the benefits and risks of AI. That’s something I wish I knew eight drafts ago. Instead, every area has some positive opportunities to use AI, and then it causes issues. We could keep listing both sides of these forever. No one knows where this is going to take us, and so the most important thing for us to do right now is to work to understand it. ★

COLUMNS

RANGITAKI

TOP 11

Becca Caffyn (Dn) Julia Roberts

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Loa Loa (Dn) Jester

2026

Sivle Talk (Dn) There’s An FBI Office In Wellington

IVY (Dn)

GIG GUIDE

THURSDAY 10TH

Gutter

SEEK HELP! (Dn) Boygirl

Dusty & Sano

w/ INNFO, KURB, MORJ, and SEPPI

Carousel Lounge Bar - 8 pm Photo by Hannah Hemi

I immediately ate shit and went Review by Hannah Hemi - Night 2 down. But moshers support each other, and I was kindly lifted off the With earplugs in and excitement to see ground by three people. I returned some good music I started my night at to the safety of the edge of the pit, Dankfest. The first act was Strings Speak and as Ben was trying to apologise, Mountains, which I was super excited to hear play live - and even though I have ‘seen’ I swung him back into the pit as payback. Safe to say I learnt my him play live at the Radio One for a live-toair, I was without headphones, so all I heard lesson about trying to talk to people for 15 mins was bass. He was awesome to with earplugs in, but I definitely had see (and actually hear) and was a great first fun for the 3 seconds I was part of the pit. Next time I reckon I’ll try act to stir up the crowd. again with purpose and not with platformed docs on. I haven’t actually been to a hardcore gig either, so I was excited to see a mosh in read more @ r1.co.nz/blog person. Seeing Fastplant and Strap and the mosh pits they created was so cool. I was keen to enjoy it from the side up until Strap, when I was trying to ask Ben if he wanted to aka dunedinsound.com go past me and into the mosh. I should have the to due next d happene what d expecte fact that no one could hear each other, when Ben wrongfully assumed I wanted to go into the mosh and I was shoved in. Knowing me,

HAPPY 500th GIG TO FRASER!!!

the pink opaque (Dn) glow

FRIDAY 11TH Office Dog - ‘Prime Corner’ Album Release w/ Pearly*

The Crown - 8.00 pm

Big Sima And Boomtown w/ IVRSN

Vera Ellen (NZ) how we say goodnight

Ammonita (Dn) Righteous Socialite

Pearl Diver - 9:00 pm

Public Gig

w/ Wild Chitokakas, Bluestone, Supertonics

Achtung! (NZ)

It Always Rains on Fridays

Dunedin Musicians Club - 8 pm

SATURDAY 12TH

MOKOMOKAI & Troy Kingi (NZ)

DEATHRO

Brasil

Mysterious Location - 9 pm

Park Flyers (NZ)

w/ Dale Kerrigan, Unsanitary Napkin, Cuck

at the pool

Radio One 91FM presents: the pink opaque - ‘glow’ and ‘sparkle’ Singles Release mazagran w/ Pearly*, Rheumy, and noelle hill

Pearl Diver - 6 pm

Opacity

hit picks

Sam Charlesworth (Dn) Way Too Frightened AW (NZ) Rhubarb

w/ B Squared, Mixgril, DJ Huffy, Syphons, Dogstar, and Gruel

Pearl Diver - 9 pm

Photos by dunedinsound.com

STREAM Find more @ r1.co.nz/gig-guide! RADIO ONE!

OUSA EXEC Why You Should Come Along To The Student General Meeting Kia ora The Executive is proposing changes to the OUSA Constitution that would reshape how student representation works from 2027 onwards. The proposal includes new roles, changes to existing portfolios, and the addition of a dedicated Disabilities Representative. These are significant changes that would affect how OUSA advocates for students and how the Executive operates in the years ahead. And that's exactly why your input matters. The SGM isn't designed to be a rubber stamp. Constitutional changes require a two-thirds majority of students present, meaning the outcome genuinely depends on who shows up. Whether you think the proposed structure is a great step forward, have concerns about specific changes, or simply want to understand why the Executive believes reform is necessary, this is the forum to hear the arguments and make up your own mind. Most importantly, don't be afraid to ask difficult questions. Want to know why some roles are being renamed? Ask. Curious about how responsibilities will change in practice? Ask. Unsure whether a particular position should exist at all? Ask that too. Student representation works best when students engage critically with it. A healthy organisation isn't one where everyone agrees. It's one where ideas are tested, challenged, and improved through discussion. So come along at 12pm on Wednesday in the main common room. Bring your mates, bring your questions, and bring your opinions. Whether you're fully supportive, completely skeptical, or somewhere in between, your voice is part of the conversation. And yes, there'll be a free sausage sizzle afterwards. But the real reason to come is that decisions about student representation should be made by students. In the meantime, check out the information sheet explaining the proposed changes on the Executive section of the OUSA website under 'Elections, Referenda and SGM Results'. Thanks, Daniel Leamy ★

ALL WELCOME ALL WELCOME

Dunedin AbrahamicInterfaith InterfaithGroup Groupwith with Dunedin Abrahamic the Tertiary Chaplaincy Chaplaincypresent present the Otago Otago Tertiary the Annual Peace PeaceLecture Lecture the 23rd 23rd Annual

Love, courage courage and andhope hopeininan an age of global global turbulence: turbulence: Responding to power powerpolitics politics Responding to and force from from the thebottom bottomup up Professor Kevin Kevin PP Clements Clements Honorary Director Honorary Director and andDistinguished DistinguishedFellow, Fellow,Toda TodaPeace PeaceInstitute Institute Join us us for with Join for the the 23rd 23rd Annual AnnualPeace PeaceLecture, Lecture,featuring featuringa aconversation conversation with Professor Clements Jewish and Professor Clements and andaapanel panelofofrepresentatives representativesfrom fromMuslim, Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths. Christian faiths. Professor Kevin Conflict Studies at the University Professor Kevin PP Clements Clementswas wasthe theFoundation FoundationChair ChairofofPeace Peaceand and Conflict Studies at the University of Otago from 2008 to 2017. His career has combined academic analysis and practice in the areas of of Otago from 2008 to 2017. His career has combined academic analysis and practice in the areas of peacebuilding and conflict transformation, spanning roles as Secretary-General for International Alert, peacebuilding and conflict transformation, spanning roles as Secretary-General for International Alert, Director of ICAR at George Mason University, President of the European Peace Building Liaison Office, Director of ICAR at George Mason University, President of the European Peace Building Liaison Office, Director of the Quaker United Nations Office in Geneva, and advisor to the New Zealand, Australian, British, Director of the Quaker United Nations Office in Geneva, and advisor to the New Zealand, Australian, British, Swedish, German and Dutch governments on conflict prevention, peace, defence and security issues. Swedish, German and Dutch governments on conflict prevention, peace, defence and security issues. This presentation will take the form of an autobiographical overview of Professor Clements’ development as This presentation take the form ofeducator. an autobiographical overview of Professor Clements’ development a peacemaker andwill international peace He will reflect on the early influences and motivations that as aled peacemaker and international peace an educator. He will reflecttoon the early andpresentation motivations will that him to dedicate his life to advancing alternative narrative conflict andinfluences violence. The led him towith dedicate his lifeontowhat advancing an alternative to to conflict andtoviolence. Thethe presentation conclude reflections it has taken, and whatnarrative it will take, respond power from bottom up.will conclude with reflections on what it has taken, and what it will take, to respond to power from the bottom up.

Monday 14 September Monday 14 September 6:45–8:45pm 6:45–8:45pm St David Lecture Theatre St David Lecture Theatre Refreshments provided Refreshments provided

M09735-CS-2026

? O TO TELLOUSCOLUMNS T Y IC JU G IN ETH ORIES T HAVE SOM LACIOUS SOT.N A S R U O Y D SEN TypeGFUL@CRITIC.C Z YMOUS. MOANIN IONS REMAIN ANON SUBMISS

RANGITAKI

LESSONS I LEARNT FROM BREAKING M

By Casamoaner

Y PENIS

It's away! It's a hit! Negative. It didn't go in. It just impacted on the surface.

I got good at avoiding them for a couple of weeks. As I said, no fun, but that's not what I really want to share.

I woke up the morning after a fun night with a severe case of morning wouldn't. Nothing. Like picking up a phone that's been disconnected. Like turning the key on a car with no battery. It wasn’t all bad, though. The good thing about going to the doctor because you can't get a boner is that you don't have to worry about getting a boner at the doctor. But that's pretty much the only good thing.

The good news is what happened in that first week between breaking my boner and getting that first painful sign of recovery. It was a week of absolute delight. I don't know what it's like for a koroa but getting erectile dysfunction as a reasonably young and fit dude was a revelation. Bits of me were still working fine – notably my lips, tongue and fingers. Fucking became foreplay. For a week, basically non-stop, without – for me, anyway – the grand finale of cumming and bringing the curtain crashing down.

The doctor was able to determine that I had sprained, rather than fractured, my penis. Apparently a "snapping" sound and turning purple are, like, super bad. To my great joy, I had neither. My lover came to the doctor with me, which was sweet. It turns out the human penis is basically a bouncy castle. You pick it up from the hire shop, drag it off the trailer onto the grass, and pump it up. It's quite tall and can flop side to side, so there are a couple of guy ropes ("guy" ropes lol). There’s one on each side, supporting it diagonally from about halfway up to a tent peg in the grass a few feet away. By putting fingers in all sorts of places ("Does this hurt? Does it hurt now?") the doctor determined I hadn't broken a guy-rope ligament or pulled out a tent-peg tendon where it joins the pubic bone. Instead, my bouncy castle had been folded to one side. There was a painful patch where the fold had stretched the tissue. And, just like if you glue a patch onto the rubbery canvas of a bouncy castle you’d then have to wait a while for the glue to set before pumping it up again, so too did I have to wait for my dick. "Just avoid getting an erection for a few weeks," was the doctor's cheery advice. Well, that's no fun at all. Worth avoiding, though. My first round of PTSD (posttrauma stiffy dick) was a morning wood: uncontrollable, unavoidable and, in this case, deeply unwelcome. Yep – glad to have you back, buddy. It hurt like blazes all over – like a ball that had been squashed. You can Google "how to avoid getting an erection", but believe me, if getting one hurts, that's a pretty effective method on its own.

I could still make pre-cum: the clear tiny bit of squirty stuff that comes out if you’re playing but not fucking. Who knew that you could have something like an orgasm every time another drop comes out?! Amazing. It happened every few minutes, which technically made me multi-orgasmic. Woo. The dream. I also discovered that you can also have something like an orgasm – let's call it a "slasm" – simply by being next to someone who’s having the real one. Even better if you're the one giving it to them. And if you add up lots of slasms, you get as much fun as you do from a smaller number of orgasms. I've had some pretty average orgasms in my time – you know, wanking on a drizzly Thursday afternoon – and some of these slasms absolutely eclipsed them. And even following several hours of experimentation with the above, I experienced, fully clothed, a full-body slasm that was like ten cummings at once, just from looking into my fuckbuddy's eyes and holding hands. So the message is simple: don't knock erectile dysfunction til you have tried it. For me, it was a revelation. And about boners at the doctor – although I have often worried about them, they just never happen in that tapu setting, despite having been closely examined for this and other previous problems. Doctors have seen it all and they are always kind and gentle. So flop out your love tackle if you have to. Don't die of embarrassment. ★

COLUMNS

RANGITAKI Illustrated by Eleanor Walker

Everyone knows that you want that Capricorn bad, despite your attempts to act aloof and professionally detached. Stop pretending you don’t care because out of fear caring might make you look stupid. You already look stupid. You may as well get what you want. Your Brunch Order: Anything with avocado

You don’t have to be so nervous, Aries – even though telling you that has historically achieved very little. Something you have been overthinking is actually very simple. Stop preparing for seventeen hypothetical outcomes and deal with the one that actually happens. Your Brunch Order: The sweet pancake option

Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma? You do, Virgo. Same with formatting, the person who keeps writing “ect”, and the fact nobody else appears to understand what a deadline means. Unfortunately, you’ll still end up submitting the file they named FINAL_FINAL2_ USETHISONE.pdf. Your Brunch Order: Eggs your way, always poached

Slow down, you crazy child! But seriously. Nobody asked you to finish the assignment six days early, reorganise the flat pantry, and personally solve every minor inconvenience your friends encounter. Sit down before your body decides it's had enough. Your Brunch Order: Corn fritters with bacon

The stars say it’s not so bad, but the stars don’t know about the increasingly elaborate web of lies you’ve constructed to avoid one mildly uncomfortable conversation. Stop being weird about it. Send the text, admit you care, or finally tell them to fuck off — whatever applies. Your Brunch Order: A full English breakfast

Don’t go wasting your emotion on someone whose biggest contribution to your life is making you check your phone every seven minutes. You’ve been calling it “seeing where things go” for long enough. They have gone nowhere. Pack it in. Your Brunch Order: A smoothie and French toast

No one knows what it’s like to be as deeply mysterious and misunderstood as you believe yourself to be. Unfortunately, people aren't mind readers and can't unpack the “nothing” you answer every time they ask what is wrong. Consider revealing one emotion this month. Your Brunch Order: Dry ahh toast

‘Take me out’ is less a lyric and more of a state of being. At this point, you need romance or a gun – either would work to end the absolute torment you have been putting yourself through every Sunday morning swipe session on Hinge. Maybe see what Pisces is up to? Your Brunch Order: The biggest coffee available

Please, please, please chill out. You missed one deadline, received one weird email, or made one tiny mistake and have immediately begun preparing your resignation from society. Nobody else noticed. It isn't the end of the world. Your Brunch Order: Breakfast burrito

Don’t upset the rhythm – for once things are actually working in your favour. You’re charming, and people are noticing. Your social life is picking up (finally). Resist the urge to sabotage it because everything being suspiciously fine makes you nervous. Your Brunch Order: Large flat white and a muffin

If this is a rom-com, kill the director. Your romantic subplot has become genuinely difficult to watch. There are mixed signals. There is yearning. There is an inexplicable third party. Your Brunch Order: Turkish eggs

You could have it so much better if you stopped insisting that “good enough” is basically the same thing as good. This applies to your job, your flat, your love life, and whatever sad meal you’ve been eating three nights in a row. Raise the bar slightly. Your Brunch Order: Maccas hot cakes

F O P A SN EEK THE W

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WINNER!

SEND A SNAP TO US AT @CRITICMAG BEST SNAP EACH WEEKS WINS AN OUSA CLUBS & SOCS SAUNA VOUCHER CONTACT CRITIC ON INSTAGRAM TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE

RANGITAKI

NEWS

KARERE

Welcome back from the break! We didn’t get up to much other than making this magazine.

Calling all swimmers! The Otago Uni Swim Club runs weekly training sessions on Mondays 7:30-8:30pm at Moana Pool. We recommend being able to swim 1 length of freestyle to join. Lifts from campus are available. Search Otago University Swim Club on Facebook and @otagouniswimclub on Insta for more.

Whispers about the ISA Annual Show happening September 11–12. Keep an eye on @isaotago for more info coming soon!

The brand new Dunedin Hospital Outpatient Building is now open! Operational for patients starting in October, this brings expanded outpatient care services to the wider OtagoSouthland region.

Anthsoc, SOUPPES, Classoc, and Hsoc are excited to bring you a collaborative Humanities Wine and Cheese night. On the 16th September, 6:00- 9:30PM, in the Humanities common room (Burns building). Tickets for members are $5, and nonmembers are $10. Everyone is welcome! BYO wine.

Ōtepoti Pop Con is happening on the 12th of September from 11am-5pm in the Main Common Room! Brought to you by the Anime Club, Dunedin K-Pop Crew and the Roleplaying & Boardgames Society, it's a gold coin entry/bank transfer for entry. Come along for stalls, performances and a celebration of Ōtepoti nerd culture. The Education Action Group are holding a Student Strike 12pm Tuesday 08/09. Meeting at the Clocktower to protest cuts against the student community.

OUSA Student Support is holding a speed flatting mixer on Thursday the 10th of September, from 5:30-6:30pm in the Evison Lounge (Clubs & Socs Building). Come along to connect with others looking for flats, or looking for rooms to be filled.

The 23rd Annual Peace Lecture will be hosted on Monday the 14th of September from 6:458:45pm in the St David Lecture Theatre. The lecture will feature a conversation with Professor Kevin P Clements and a panel of representatives from Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths.

The Malaysian Students’ Association is holding Malam Malaysia 2026 (Malaysian Night 2026), happening on 19th September 2026 at the College of Education Auditorium, from 5:30pm to 8:30pm. Come along for a theatre production titled 'Last Silat of Honour' centred around silat, one of Malaysia’s traditional martial arts, as well as traditional Malay, Chinese and Indian Dances. Early bird tickets are available until 7th September and can be purchased through the link at the bio at @otago.mnight on Instagram.

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Wednesday 9th September

12pm | Main Common Room Scan for more information

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