Official press statement, from a university spokeswoman, regarding the Critic magazines that went missing.
[CENSORED BY CRITIC] After University Proctor Dave Scott received information yesterday that copies of this week’s Critic magazine were requested to be removed from the Hospital and Dunedin Public Library foyers, the Campus Watch team on duty last night (Monday) removed the rest of the magazines from stands around the University. The assumption was made that, copies of the magazine also needed to be removed from other public areas, and hence the Proctor made this decision. This was an assumption, rightly or wrongly, that this action needed to be taken as the University is also a public place, where non-students regularly pass through. The Proctor understood that the reason copies of this week’s issue had been removed from public places, was that the cover was objectionable to many people including children who potentially might be exposed to it. Today, issues of the magazine, which campus watch staff said numbered around 500 in total, could not be recovered from a skip on campus, and this is regrettable. “I intend to talk to the Critic staff member tomorrow, and explain what has happened and why,” says Mr Scott. The Campus Watch staff who spoke to the Critic Editor today, they were initially unaware of. yesterday’s removal of the magazines. The University has no official view on the content of this week’s magazine. However, the University is aware that University staff members, and members of the public, have expressed an opinion that the cover of this issue was degrading to women. The University made no decision to remove the editions of Criitc. Despite media being told this, some reports incorrectly imply or state that this is what occurred. We have sought corrections and clarifications on the erroneous reports. What did occur was as incorrect assumption by staff in the proctor’s office. Because Critic staff had removed copies of the edition from the Dunedin Public Library and the Dunedin Public Hospital on Monday, as they are public places, staff int eh Proctor’s office believed that it should follow that copies also be removed from campus. Regrettably they removed approximately 500 copies and disposed of them. No directions were given to Campus Watch from the university on this matter. This was a mistake.