Traditions and initiations are at the heart of the Knox College experience and help bind students into a "family", a returning student says.
The second-year female student - who asked to remain anonymous - explained some of the rites of passage to the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
The ceremonies began with initiation ceremonies for first-year "fresher" students, within hours of their arrival each year.
"Within hours of arriving, after an initiation exercise in the quad, I was sharing a fully clothed shower with my neighbour whilst we picked egg shells out of each other's hair. What better way to bond after just meeting?"
However, far from being intimidated, the older students "worked hard to make it a memorable, welcoming environment", she said.
"Not for one second did I want to go back home."
Drinking at the college's Buttery bar - now closed as part of the changes - was also a feature of the Knox experience, but in a licensed, supervised environment that provided "a much safer place to drink than a flat", she said.
So, too, was donning formal attire and dining together each evening - another requirement scrapped by the changes.
"Dressing up for dinner every evening marks an occasion where we all sit and eat together, take our time to talk about our days and in the dark, cold days of Dunedin at least have something to get up and dressed for."
Now, as a returning student, she had - like other returning students - picked a first-year student to pair up with and act as their grandparent, offering advice and striving to keep the younger student safe during Orientation events.
The aim was to ensure the first-year students felt "welcome and accepted", rather than being dropped into a college of strangers and "told to mingle", she said.
"I have a granddaughter already.
We met on Monday and already she has my phone number, we are friends on Facebook and I am giving her all the advice in the world of what to bring, not to be nervous, and to come to see me any time she needs me.
"Does this sound like an unwelcoming place to you?"
The small number of students at Knox each year, and the traditions that helped bind them together, meant they became a "family", she said.
"If the traditions are taken away, who is to say that returners will stop coming back, and making Knox just like every other hall in New Zealand?
"Knox is full of educated, well-mannered young men and women and everyone is lovely and welcoming. What makes us special is that we can balance work and play, which is demonstrated in the amount of honours students we have, lawyers, doctors, PhD students and so on.
"We have 'exies' doing amazing things all over the world, and that started at Knox. It is more than just a place to sleep and eat to us ... It is our home."
