Issue 8 Features this issue Uni Games 2008 Special Recounts of the UNI Games 2008 Rotorua The 2008 University Games were held in Rotorua this year.  This year was especially unique as Rotorua was the first ever non-university city to host the games. It was also the first year polytechnics were invited to participate, with the likes of Unitec and Rotorua's ‘Waiariki' institute signing up. AUT has only ever won the games once before, in 2005 at North Shore and this year AUT was ready to claim the title once more.  AUT were the reigning champions in 4 out of 25 Sports last year. AUT stayed true to tradition and had a magnificent turn out of students with competitors in nearly every sport.  I was lucky enough to head down for the week as AUT's media manager.  Read More >> Vic Uni Games 'Scandal' Vic Uni Games Athletes Evicted Allegations made by Rotorua motel owners that Victoria University students attending this year’s University Games trashed motel rooms and left rooms full of vomit and alcohol have been described as an overreaction by students and Games organisers, who say the claims have been “exaggerated to an amazing extent.” The Games were held in Rotorua between April 14 and 18, and about 130 students from Victoria were booked in to Cleveland Motel and Havana Motor Lodge during their four-night stay. Havana was the first of the two motels to evict students, with a room of four asked to leave on Wednesday afternoon. Owner Jan Stevenson told the New Zealand Herald that the eviction came after a window in a unit was broken and red wine was spilled in the room. Read More >> International Exchange My Life Changing AUT International Experience Last semester, each morning I threw on a business suit and rushed to the subway to squeeze onto a train packed with young professionals - their eyes either buried in the Financial Times or their fingers tapping away furiously on blackberries - as they make the half-hour connection from DC to Arlington. An affiliate of ABC network – ABC 7 News, Arlington – where I undertook my internship, held a daily 8am staff conference to discuss the news to be covered by the station each day. World-class reporters, producers and directors huddle around a large oval table spilling hot coffee as they argue loudly and urgently about the stories for the coming day. Read More >> News articles... PILOT Project at AUT A group of AUT art students are showcasing an exhibition this week at St Paul 3 to display the talents the Art School has on offer. The PILOT Project is a paper within the Bachelor of Visual Arts focusing on the professional aspect of one’s art practice. PILOT is basically a bunch of art students getting together and running a show from scratch; dealing with all the bells and whistles, including which artworks of theirs to show and how to show them, what food to serve (if any), catalogues,... Read More >> Juice now comes AUT flavoured AUT students from all over campus are featuring as video jockeys in Juice TV’s new show ubvj @ AUT. Working with Juice TV, AUT’s media planning agency and marketing department came up with the idea to have students VJ (video jockey) their own show on the New Zealand music channel. Marketing services director Nick Swallows said AUT wanted to profile the extent of courses it has on offer. Read More >> Massey Celebrates Achievement in Hotness In the competitive world of tertiary education, attracting students to your university is hard work, so the folks at Massey decided to go for the proven “sex sells” approach. Rhonda Grant, a 22-year-old former Massey University student, finished third in the Miss Universe New Zealand beauty pageant last month. The university deemed this achievement news-worthy and posted it on to its website, replete with a picture of the science graduate kneeling on the beach in a bikini. The Associ... Read More >> Anti-fur campaigners standing up for the little guys Most people baulk at buying mink coats, but animal fur, probably even cat and dog, still finds its way into New Zealand as jacket collars and toys for pets, says animal rights activist John Darroch.  Darroch has been campaigning against fur with Auckland Animal Action since he saw footage of animals being tortured in a factory-farming movie when he was 15. He says the group has had a lot of success in getting fur out of fashion stores, largely due to all the public education done by anti-fu... Read More >>