A paedophile priest's picture has been removed from the wall at Dunedin's Kavanagh College after a group of its former pupils complained.
But the group's call for the Catholic college to consider a name change, to end another association with the priest's dark past, has been rejected.
The situation emerged after Dr Murray Heasley and 12 other old boys of the college and its predecessor, St Paul's High School, wrote to college principal Tracey O'Brien to raise concerns.
Dr Heasley told the Otago Daily Times he was horrified to discover a picture of former priest and convicted sex offender Magnus Murray still on display at the college when he visited earlier this year.
Murray was jailed for five years in 2003 after admitting 10 charges of sexual offending against four young boys between 1958 and 1972.
The offending, described as ''despicable sexual crimes against innocent and vulnerable children'', occurred in church settings and during church-related activities in Dunedin.
At the time, Murray, also known as ''Max'', was also teaching at St Paul's High School, before it became Kavanagh College in 1989.
Dr Heasley, who was head prefect at the high school in 1969, had returned to the college on a ''nostalgia trip'' in February.
He hoped to view the high school's old honours board, which featured his name, but found it and other memorabilia missing.
Instead, he found an image of Murray, seated alongside other staff in a group photo taken in 1968, still on display.
Dr Heasley said he and other old boys were ''incensed'' by the discovery, and together wrote an open letter to the college.
''The accomplishments of years of students ... is deemed, it appears, worthy of nothing and disposed of in an act of barbaric, historical vandalism and patent disrespect.
''The photo of a convicted child molester, on the other hand, remains in a place of honour on the stairwell,'' they wrote.
College principal Tracey O'Brien, contacted on Friday, told the ODT the old boys' concerns were being taken ''seriously''.
''On the surface, we can see that there is a perceived injustice there.
''The honours board has gone missing and there's a discredited member of the college still up in a photo.''
He was still trying to locate the missing memorabilia, but the picture of Murray had already been removed.
It was possible it could be modified, with Murray's image removed, and then returned to the wall, he said.
Dr Heasley said his group wanted a caption underneath Murray's photo, noting his crimes - an idea Mr O'Brien said would not be ''in the spirit of Christian charity''.
But Dr Heasley also suggested the college's name should be reconsidered.
The name came from Bishop John Kavanagh, who from 1949 to 1985 was Dunedin's fourth Catholic bishop.
Dr Heasley said the name was tainted because of Bishop Kavanagh's handling of complaints about Murray's behaviour.
In 1972, after allegations first surfaced, Murray was sent to Australia for counselling and treatment, the Dunedin District Court heard in 2003.
He returned to New Zealand four years later and resumed pastoral duties as a parish priest in the North Island before retiring in 1990, the court heard.
The ODT subsequently reported the church had compensated two other boys from Waihi, in the North Island, where Murray was parish priest from 1980-86, after the boys claimed to have been abused.
Mr O'Brien said any change to the college's name was a matter for the Catholic Diocese of Dunedin.
Catholic Education Office Dunedin diocese director Tony Hanning rejected the idea and the allegations against Bishop Kavanagh, who died in July 1985, aged 72.
''Sometimes emotion becomes more important than facts and evidence, and that's most unfortunate.
''That would be a real slur on his character and quite uncalled for.''
It was true Murray was sent to Australia after complaints emerged in Dunedin, and that police were not called in, Mr Hanning said.
It was also true Bishop Kavanagh was probably involved in both decisions, he said.
However, that ''wasn't uncommon in those days'', as victims were left to make their own complaints, he said.
There was also ''a presumption of innocence there, too'', but once charges were laid, ''the law took its course'', he said.
The approach had since changed and protocols were now ''very clear and followed strictly''.
''If it was something like that now ... the police would be involved.
''It wasn't always the case back then,'' he said.
