Founded in , Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in Oceania. The university was created by a committee led by Thomas Burns , [ 8 ] and officially established by an ordinance of the Otago Provincial Council in Otago is known for its vibrant student life, particularly its flatting , which is often in old houses. Otago students have a long-standing tradition of naming their flats.
The university's student magazine, Critic , is New Zealand's longest running student magazine. The Otago Association 's plan for the European settlement of southern New Zealand, conceived under the principles of Edward Gibbon Wakefield in the s, envisaged a university. Dunedin leaders Thomas Burns and James Macandrew urged the Otago Provincial Council during the s to set aside a land endowment for an institute of higher education. The university conferred just one degree, to Alexander Watt Williamson , before becoming an affiliated college of the federal University of New Zealand in With the dissolution of the University of New Zealand in and the passage of the University of Otago Amendment Act , the university resumed its power to confer degrees.
These buildings were inspired by the then-new main building at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Otago was the first university in Australasia to permit women to take a law degree. Later that year she became the first woman in the British Empire to appear as counsel in court. Professor Robert Jack made the first radio broadcast in New Zealand from the physics department on 17 November This was the first time the royals completed informal "walkabouts" to meet the public, and it was the first visit of Prince Charles then 21 years old and Princess Anne 19 years to this country.
Beginning in university Vice-Chancellor Harlene Hayne and Pro-Vice-Chancellor Tony Ballantyne implemented cuts in academic and support staff which generated enduring controversy. In this context The New Zealand Herald characterised the university's 'climate' as one of top-down 'suppression and fear' for its employees. The Otago Daily Times reported on 'demoralised teachers and researchers' who were 'locked in pain and anger at what their institution had become' and later opined that 'the university desperately needs a reset'.
In December , eight graduation ceremonies scheduled for that month were disrupted following threats to carry out a firearms and explosives attack on students attending graduation ceremonies scheduled for 7 and 8 December. On 18 December, a year-old woman appeared in the Auckland District Court on charges of threatening harm to people or property. Court documents have described the threat as being of a "magnitude surpassing the 15 March Christchurch mosque massacres.
