Student culture off the beaten track

Student culture is always going to be a tricky one to pin down. As of late, no-one really has a clue what a unified student culture would look like, or if there even is one.

The dominant argument being expounded by student culture pundits (basically me and one or two others) is that student culture is in decline.

And of course, this isn’t true; culture doesn’t die, it changes all the time.

Yet, the changes which have plagued student culture in the post-Covid era are increasingly inward looking, setting a dangerous precedent.

This is where we differ from students of the past.

What I’m getting at is this: student culture should be defined not by what students do within the echo chamber of North Dunedin, but instead by what they do literally anywhere else.

While there’s nothing wrong with Studentville — Huzur Kebab is on our doorstep after all — having all of your eggs in one basket does limit options a tad.

The fact that few students ever dare leave is a sign we are far more focused on actual study than we once were.

We are now so time-stretched or downright apathetic to anything beyond ourselves that anything outside the box is regarded as a mere inconvenience to the ruthless pursuit of individual success. What this creates is a state in which students are reluctant to leave North Dunedin, host inclusive parties, or even trek the 2km down the road into the Octagon for a night out.

This "student culture for the individual" is what we have, and is a large part of the reason why people are arguing that the "student experience" has had its death knell. Student culture is trapped in a house of mirrors, seemingly with no way out.

Nothing makes me as sad as I am when lamenting the state of student culture, so you can imagine I was in quite a state after coming to this conclusion a few weekends ago.

That is, until I stumbled upon an old Otago University Tramping Club (OUTC) annual from 2016, stashed away in the Matukituki Valley. Lying awake in my tent, I couldn’t help but froth at all the great yarns students produced on these legendary adventures.

How good is it that a group of 40-plus students drove four hours into the Matukituki Valley, then walked another two, only to trek back the next day after hosting a piss-up for the ages? Now that’s culture.

The annual got me thinking that it’s not really the things students do in Studentville that makes for the "student experience".

There’s a reason that OUSA’s two most popular clubs are the tramping club and the ski club, two activities which have absolutely nothing to do with Studentville and expressly involve getting out of Dodge.

The "student experience" can be found on the peaks of Treble Cone or in the depths of Fiordland as much as it can be found in North Dunedin.

Things like the drinking challenges back at the ski lodge, or the goon slaps had on a glacial peak are some of the ways in which this outward-facing student culture is expressed.

What’s more, students belonging to these clubs are also often the most active members of the student community at home. This is best exemplified by the ski club coup of 2022, in which the Otago University Snow Sports Club (OUSSC) nearly won all of the spots on the OUSA executive, taking advantage of widespread student apathy for their own gain.

Even the current OUSA president, Keegan Wells, was part of this ski club coup which took student governance by storm.

These clubs also breed musos, writers, film-makers, and exceptional drinkers, all of whom breathe life into the wider student community with their acts.

It is this outward-facing culture which is slowly losing out against the degree-centric "student experience".

Control over the student experience has been wrested from the hands of actual students and is now being determined by the university itself, an institution which favours the unproblematic degree-production approach.

This type of student experience is fundamentally reshaping student culture into a closeted affair, one which, to the untrained eye, would seem barely alive.

But, like I said earlier, culture is constantly changing. Student culture will change again, the old model still exists in patches. Members of OUTC still do trek out into the wilderness in costume for their annual Bushball.

Student culture needs to once again define itself by what it does outside of North Dunedin.

 - Hugh Askerud is a 20-year-old local and student at the University of Otago, majoring in politics and religious studies.