While scenes of drunken St Patrick’s Day antics still make national headlines, back when Andrew O’Connell, more commonly known as Ox, was a University of Otago student, the chaos was more consequential.
On April 22, 1990, a clash between 47 police and a handful of students swelled into a riot during which officers were pelted with bottles, bricks and slate gathered from nearby roofs.
Infamously, one officer had a dart thrown at him that lodged in his neck.
By this stage Ox was already a frequent flyer in the proctor’s office and he was blamed for throwing the dart.
After the student union put out a $500 reward in search of the culprit, three people came forward saying they saw him throwing it.
"It wasn't me, no, they mentioned it when they arrested me but it totally wasn't me — If I did it I would've come clean after 30 years."
Mr O’Connell, who was reflecting on his student days ahead of returning to Dunedin to perform with his band Petshop Ox at the Crown Hotel tonight, has a theory for why students were crazier in his day.
"We were the last generation that started before student loans — so I think the whole student culture peaked around that time."
"I mean people still have a real good time for sure, but we’re not seeing students out there pushing the limit, seeing if there is a ledge over the edge."
Mr O’Connell now runs a clothing business in Queenstown and his life is a far cry from what it was back in his student days, when he received a special shout-out in the then proctor Ron Chambers’ book Justice and Jellybeans.
"Alcohol in large quantities was almost always the vehicle of choice for these activities, which more often than not involved damaging someone else’s property," Mr Chambers said in the book.
The chainsaw had no chain. However, it was unclear whether the student president was aware of that fact.
Mr O’Connell also attempted to run for Otago University Students’ Association president, vowing to lower the price of beer and host a "flat-warring party" if he was elected.
Unfortunately for some and lucky for others, Mr O’Connell came a distant third in the bid for presidency.
He left university not long after the Easter riots and a few days after his final meeting with the proctor.
He later went on to finish a bachelor of commerce degree in economics at Massey extramurally and started his sportswear brand Rockstar Racing in the late ’90s.
Mr O’Connell said at one time he had been one of New Zealand's most infamous students, but these days he was doing lot more positive stuff than wilful damage.
"It took me a while in my 20s to really learn what control is about."
