At a packed Uni Council meeting last week, Otago confirmed that it would be going ahead with the million-dollar rebrand. Student protesters - dressed as pigs and horses - refused to leave the chamber after the announcement, protesting staff cuts. It was truly a dog and pony show, but in the end, everyone left peacefully after some words with the Proctor.
The meeting covered two significant topics, which we’ll break down here: the design and implementation of a new name and tohu (symbol), and the ongoing debate over cuts and spending. The overlap between the two has been confined mostly to Facebook debates, with people questioning why the Uni is spending more than a million dollars on a project at the apparent expense of staff positions. In the consultation findings, one staff member commented: “On the one hand, there’s never a good time to do this, and the design is very nice, on the other hand, it’s hard to be excited for a redesign when your job is in doubt.”
The new name and symbol were a hot debate online, but feedback from people who actually took time to submit to the proposal painted a different picture: out of around 9,000 responses, two thirds were supportive. Some called it tokenism: “The fact that this survey was sent to me only in English shows it is tokenism and woke by a bunch of white privileged people.” Other comments in the consultation findings seemed to think the changes couldn’t come fast enough to incorporate Māori so that it would not be “lost in the Eurocentric foundations of this organization.”
While many respondents worried it was merely a “box-ticking exercise”, Chancellor Stephen Higgs said, “I assure you we have listened, and you have been heard.” Thanks, Stephen, for validating me. From next year, the new name will take effect and the new tohu will be seen around campus. The coat of arms will remain (though it’s getting a polish) and will be more visible on the alumni-facing documents and in ceremonial circumstances.
The debate about staff cuts was then briefly touched on, with Council noting that they plan to meet with various MP’s and OUSA to hopefully tease out some more emergency funding, or at least lay the groundwork for changes after the election. These meetings will take place with individual MP’s, not as a group. The TEU will also be present. Stephen opened the meeting with the statement that their negotiations with the government have been “successful in a small way”, which is how we’re feeling about the first semester, too.
At this point the meeting finished its public segment. When the Council was cleared for a private session, the students along the back row donned their livestock getup and refused to move, flashing wads of printed cash and asking about the democratic process. A third-year amongst the ranks said, “We tried to put on a performance and we got escorted out of the meeting,” making this the first time livestock has ever been trespassed from the Clocktower.
The whole ordeal was rather civil, with the Proctor noting, as he escorted them out, that reasonable protest was an important part of the student experience, and that removing them was just due diligence. We did not ask if he had prior experience trespassing pigs or horses.
For context, chaos in this room is nothing new. Some years ago, in the late ‘90s, Otago proposed cuts to some languages departments and proposed raising fees. Students occupied the Clocktower, broke down doors, and ultimately forced a counselor to try to escape the meeting room by sneaking out a window. Better luck next time.