Raised as Māori Language week began yesterday, the tino rangatiratanga flag is set to stay at Otago Polytechnic.
Karakia, waiata and an impromptu haka took place during the noon ceremony at the Dunedin campus as the Māori flag was raised to half-mast.
Otago Polytechnic Students’ Association president Ezra Tamati first requested it be flown alongside the New Zealand flag in February last year.
The ideal day for the ceremony was clear after approval was granted in June.
"We got to pick the day. There was no other day that I would think more appropriate than today."
Not only was it the first day of Māori language week, it was also the 50th anniversary of the event, which began as Māori Language Day in 1972.
The polytechnic has flown the flag in the past, but it will now be a permanent fixture.
Partnership and equity deputy chief executive Megan Potiki said she was glad the day had arrived after "quite a long process".
Students and staff were surveyed and permission was sought from mana whenua before the new addition to the flagpole could be made.
Two rūnanga approved it, although a third did not, she said.
"The flag represents many things to many people but it’s not necessarily a flag from here."
Chief executive Dr Megan Gibbons said the polytechnic had come a long way since signing a memorandum of understanding with rūnanga in 2004 which listed Treaty of Waitangi principles as the first priority.
It was appropriate to recognise the partnership between mana whenua and students while acknowledging the death of the Queen, a direct descendant of Queen Victoria, in whose name the Treaty was signed, she said.
