Book to mark century of ‘Critic’

A reporter for Otago University student magazine Critic Te Ārohi sneaked into a Beatles interview when the Fab Four played the Dunedin Town Hall in 1964.

During the 1981 Springbok tour, instruction manuals on how to dress for a protest appeared in the often counter-culture publication.

During student protests in 1993, then-Otago University Students’ Association president, now vice-chancellor, Grant Robertson frequented the periodical’s pages.

All this and more would fill the pages of a coffee table book, in development, to celebrate a century of covering student life and the Dunedin campus, Critic editor Nina Brown said.

Miss Brown, a self-confessed "Critic nerd", said the first issue of the notorious, at times quirky, always progressive, publication was published on April 2, 1925.

It had steadfastly focused on student life since.

"If you want to get a picture of what the University of Otago student culture has been like, you just have to look at Critic.

"I would say it’s as close to the authentic student experience as you’ll get," Miss Brown said.

The student publication had a clear target audience, she said.

"We are the target audience that we’re writing for.

"The stories we tell, only we can really tell.

"There is just so much going on all the time, and the culture is so unique.

"It’s a campus full of students who are trying to make the best of their best years."

Reading through past issues in the Hocken Collections she found that complaints about political apathy and the quality of housing for students had endured over the decades.

"What’s probably different is we no longer get letters to the editor complaining about women wearing pants on campus," she said.

Critic features editor Iris Hehir said the book would cover the university administration, student politics, party culture, scandals and more.

She had already begun interviewing past contributors and editors to contextualise the stories that would feature in it.

The oldest living editor, Paul Oestreicher (editor in 1952), went on to become a human rights activist who was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

"He’s incredible," she said.

Miss Brown said at present, the largely volunteer-supported magazine printed 26 issues a year with a staff of between 15 and 20 contributors.

There were likely more than 2000 issues in its back catalogue.

At times Critic trod a line and got things right, but there were also times it got things wrong, she said.

A 2018 issue aimed at breaking the stigma around menstruation was pulled from the stands by members of Campus Watch — it was an issue Miss Brown maintained was "great".

hamish.maclean@odt.co.nz