Five academics and a student argued whether the university was too big and losing its special character at an organised debate in the Castle lecture theatre on Monday.
Department of politics Emeritus Prof Jim Flynn led the affirmative team, but it was his critical comments at the conclusion of the moot which drew the attention of the audience.
A sense of participating at decision-making level at Otago had decreased among academics as the institution grew larger, Prof Flynn said.
"This is not just about size, though."
Academics now focused on their own departments, rather than contributing to an overall view of university life.
A sense of detachment between the senate and academics had affected the "special character" of the university.
During his time on the senate in the 1990s, it had become apparent "academics' voices" were no longer always being listened to, Prof Flynn said.
An audience of more than 100 people voted to decide the winning debate, awarding a narrow victory of 52% to Prof Flynn's affirmative team.
Approached after the debate, Prof Flynn said "layers of bureaucracy" contributed to a sense of detachment.
Previous vice-chancellors had contributed to this, he said.
However, the most recent tenureships had been characterised by more of an understanding and equality-based approach, he said.
Dr Gil Rutherford, from the College of Education, Division of Humanities, for the affirmative, said the focus on research programmes needed to change to teaching undergraduates because improved education flowed into better research.
Otago University Students' Association education officer Katie Reid was a lone voice in the debate representing student issues. Much of the debate centred around the "special character" of Otago and how it applied to academics, but a university was more than just its staff, she said.
Dr John Williams said during the negative team's summing up, the definition of "special character" was a matter of subjective opinion.
To some students, Otago's character meant coming to study "couch-burning 101 and fire-starting 102", and it certainly appeared "this hasn't changed in the last few years".