Students and alcohol have once again proven to be a hazardous mix at the University of Otago.
University provost Ken Hodge’s annual report showed that of nine serious misconduct incidents last year, six were related to alcohol.
"Clearly, uncontrolled use of alcohol continues to be a major aggravating factor in the majority of breaches of the code of student conduct," Dr Hodge said.
Cases the provost’s office had dealt with included a first-year student igniting a couch and fuelling the fire with accelerant, a second-year student lighting a fire in the women’s toilets and a group of eight second-year students invading a flat and damaging property.
Two sexual misconduct cases were delegated to independent investigators.
On the whole, the total number of incidents on campus has declined since 2019, from 819 then to 652 last year.
The majority of offenders (83%) were university students, followed by Otago Polytechnic students (10%) and non-students (7%).
The number of fire incidents more than halved, down from 48 in 2019 to 20 last year.
The number of glass-related incidents also fell, from 28 in 2017 to 24 last year.
University proctor Dave Scott said a few factors might have contributed to the reduction in incidents reported, including the proctor’s office working with the police and Safe and Well Otepoti.
Several alcohol manufacturers who were unofficially supplying student parties with their product in exchange for advertising were identified and held accountable.
The Agnew St party was called off following a meeting between the proctor and the community, and the number of flat initiations, which involved binge-drinking and vomiting, was also down, likely due to Covid-19 restrictions, Mr Scott reported.
University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic students continued to mix, making blended flats more common than before, in what Mr Scott called an "evolving collaborative relationship".
