M A G A Z I N E

U N I V E R S I T Y O F

I S S U E 2 : J U LY 2 0 0 2

Otago

HIGH COURT WIN:is it enough to salvage the dental profession?

SAPERE AUDE

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U N I V E R S I T Y

Te Whare Wänanga o Otägo

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m a g a z i n eC O N T E N T S

5Vice-Chancellor’s comment

6Inbrief

News from Otago’s campuses

19Opinion

Professor Keith Ballard

24Staff Profile

Emeritus Professor Jim Flynn

28UniNews

30UniClippings

31Books

32Mooters do Otago proud

33Alumni

News and resources

10Future of Dentistry

in New Zealand nears crisis pointThe recent High Court decision to

reimburse more than 460 University ofOtago dentistry students has highlighteddisturbing trends within the profession.

16Medical doctor turns human geographerDr Ghazali Musa today combines his love

of travel and endurance sports with hismedical background to study health effects

of high altitude pursuits on travellers.

20From Saudi to Otago

Dr Phil Seddon is back in New Zealandoverseeing Otago’s wildlife management

diploma course. He talks about his previousposition in Saudi Arabia.

26An expat’s Russia in 2002

Kiwi journalist Robin Munro describes life in Moscow through an expatriate’s eyes:how it has been, how it is, and how he

expects it to turn out.

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U N I V E R S I T Y O F O T A G O

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SOMETIMES YOU WANT MORE

THAN MEMORIESThe University of Otago Archway Shop stocks

many different items of memorabilia –something for every occasion.

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m a g a z i n eUniversity of Otago MagazineIssue 2July 2002ISSN - 1175-8147

Managing Editor Gillian Thomas

Editor Brigid Feelymag.editor@otago.ac.nz

Designer Peter Scott

Contributing Writers Simon AncellAmber Fraser-SmithJo GalerLorraine IsaacsMaari McCluskeyLisa MacknightNicola MutchJill RutherfordPenny St JohnAinslie TalbotKarin WarnaarNigel Zega

Photography Sharron BennettAlan DoveJenny ForbesBill NicholYolanda van HeezikMartin von den Driesch

Advertising Ruth Mackenzie-White

Circulation Alumni Officemagazine@otago.ac.nz

Contact DetailsUniversity of Otago MagazineMarketing and CommunicationsPO Box 56Dunedin New ZealandTel 64 3 479 8515Fax 64 3 479 5417Email mag.editor@otago.ac.nzWeb www.otago.ac.nz/otagomagazine

SubmissionsContributed articles and letters should be addressed to:The Editor, University of Otago Magazine, at the above address oremail mag.editor@otago.ac.nz.

CopyrightYou are welcome to reproduce material from the magazine after gaining permissionfrom the editor.

The University of Otago Magazine is published by the Marketing andCommunications Division of the University.The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University.

We are the best.

On Saturday 18 May, the Otago Daily Times’ front pageheadline was “Otago Researchers Triumph”. This story reportedour outstanding success in the latest Health Research Councilfunding round and led me to reflect on what we havecollectively achieved in recent years that entitles us to say we arethe best University in New Zealand.

Briefly, here are some facts which support my claim:• We are New Zealand’s most intensive research University.

Last year we attracted more external research funding thanany other university in the country.

• We have the best physical facilities in the country. Our newInformation Services Building and our studentaccommodation are but two which are unsurpassed.

• We produce the best graduates. An employer survey showedthat 43% rate Otago graduates as better than those from otheruniversities and 50% rate them as good as other graduates.

• We have more of the very best graduates. In the past 10years, Otago has taken more than one third of all RhodesScholarships awarded in New Zealand - more than any otheruniversity.

• This year, our law students achieved the best result ever by aNew Zealand team in an international MootingCompetition. Otago was placed third overall and was beatenonly by Harvard for the quality of the written arguments.

• In business education, Otago has the only New Zealand MBAto have been listed in the Financial Times World Top 100.

• Surveys of seventh form students repeatedly show thatOtago University and its student lifestyle is recognised asbeing the best in the country.

I could list many more achievements in support of this claim,but there is one in particular which must be recognised - thededication and commitment of our staff. Given the pressuresfaced in recent years, this has been truly outstanding.

While we should all feel very proud of our achievements andhave no hesitation in celebrating our successes, we should notbe complacent. Not only must we ensure that we stay in ourposition as the best in New Zealand, but I suggest that duringthe next three to five years we raise the bar and set ourselves thegoal of advancing New Zealand's first University as a true worldclass university.

V C ’s C O M M E N T

U N I V E R S I T Y O F O T A G O

Dr Graeme FogelbergVice-ChancellorUniversity of Otago

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INBRIEF

New Zealand managers are wellregarded for having an entrepreneurialspirit and developing innovativeideas. However, there appears tobe a gap between developinginnovative ideas and then usingthose innovations to gain aninternational competitive advantage,says Otago’s Dr Jenny Darroch.

The University recently secureda substantial grant from theGovernment’s Tertiary EducationStrategic Change Fund to supportthe development of entrepreneurshipat Otago.

As the University’s Director ofEntrepreneurship, Darroch isusing her newly created positionto develop a strong teaching andresearch programme inentrepreneurship for theUniversity. Currently, Darroch isresearching the commercialisationof innovations developed inconjunction with Universityresearchers.

Together with Professor VivienneShaw from the Department ofMarketing, she is beginning a

UNDERSTANDING ENTREPRENEURSHIPMAY BOOST PROFILE

Dr Jenny Darroch is exploring ways of changing business leaders’perceptions of expansion.

A recent Otago study showspremature death rates amongMäori males are still much higherthan non-Mäori.

Public health researcherAndrew Sporle (ChristchurchSchool of Medicine and HealthSciences) and his colleaguesProfessor Peter Davis andProfessor Neil Pearce (MasseyUniversity Wellington), analyseddata from the 1996 census alongwith information from deathcertificates from 1996-97.

“Our main finding is thatMäori males continue to diemuch earlier than non-Mäori; infact they are more than twice aslikely to suffer premature death.

“The mortality rates are alsohigher for Mäori males in the topoccupational groups compared tonon-Mäori in the bottom groups.”

Sporle says this research indicatesthe cause is not just a matter ofsocial class.Adjustment for socio-economic differences betweenMäori and non-Mäori producedonly a small change in rates.

MÄORI MEN DYING EARLIER THANNON-MÄORI

Researcher Andrew Sporle has found Mäori men are continuing to die earlier than their non-Mäori counterparts – regardless ofsocio-economic background.

The research, published in theNew Zealand Medical Journal inMarch, also shows Mäori malesare more than five times morelikely to die from readily treatableillnesses than non-Mäori. Illnessessuch as asthma, chronic rheumaticheart disease, appendicitis,bacterial infections, pneumoniaand bronchitis figure prominentlyas causes of premature mortality.

Similar research was done in1975-77 and 1985-87, but it isunclear if mortality rates havechanged because of differences inthe way data were collected andclassified. However, high rates ofMäori premature death havepersisted over this time.

Sporle says the latest researchalso shows big variations in deathrates between Mäori males indifferent socio-economic groups.

The research team says thehigh rate of readily preventabledeaths indicates more needs tobe done to address Mäori healthneeds.

project that looks at barriers tointernational entrepreneurship.There are several inhibitingfactors for New Zealand firms.Size and lack of resources inparticular prevent business growth.For this study, Darroch isparticularly interested in howentrepreneurs access capital inorder to grow internationally andthe experiences entrepreneurshave had accessing venture capital.Overseas research suggests thatentrepreneurs should use venturecapital to grow their operationsdomestically and internationally.

“If we had a slightly differentattitude towards taking in overseascapital, we might find that we dobetter,” Darroch says.

“What can we do to try tomake the country grow and bemore innovative, and encourageentrepreneurship where there isan international competitiveadvantage?”

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Otago researchers havecontributed to a CambridgeUniversity-based examination ofthe global history of Christianity.

The project had a NZ$2million grant from the AmericanPew Charities Fund to produceseveral studies and collections.

Otago’s foundation Professorof Theology and Dean of theSchool of Liberal Arts ProfessorGerald Pillay recently hostedCanadian and southern hemispherescholars associated with the project.

Pillay was invited to take partin consultations at Oxford,Cambridge and Pretoria duringrecent years. He sees interestingdevelopments for Otago.

Researchers at the Dunedinmeeting plan to publish a book onthe social influences of Christianityin New Zealand and Australia.

“This could be the first ofseveral projects spawned by theoriginal study,” says Pillay.

He will be working with Otagohistorian Dr John Stenhouse,Massey’s Associate Professor

CHRISTIANITY SCHOLARS ATTRACTEDBY STUDY AT OTAGO

Professor Gerald Pillay from Otago is one of several researcherscontributing to a global effort documenting the history of Christianity in the modern era.

Peter Lineham,Auckland’s Dr AlanDavidson, and Dr MarkHutchinson from the SydneyCollege of Divinity.

“It’s good to have people fromAustralia and New Zealand lookingat the importance of Christianity inshaping their society.

“These places are broadlyconsidered to be secular and thevalue of religion is underplayed.We’ll be looking at the historicalsignificance of this underplayingand some commonly heldprejudices in society.”

Other spin-offs includeupcoming visits from MunichProfessor Klaus Korshocke inSeptember and from leadingsociologists of religion ProfessorDavid Martin (London) andProfessor Robert Wuthnow(Princeton) in December, bothkeynote speakers at a School ofLiberal Arts conference examiningthe future of Christianity in theWest.

Researchers at Otago’s WellingtonSchool of Medicine and HealthSciences are challenging theaccepted beliefs that syntheticbedding materials are especiallygood for asthmatic patients, orthat feather bedding is especiallybad for asthmatics.

An investigation by theSchool’s Asthma Research Grouphas found synthetic fibres induvets carry up to 15 times moredust mites than feather duvets.

Group Director ProfessorJulian Crane says the researcherstook dust samples from pillows,duvets and mattresses inWellington households fromNovember 1998 until January1999.As well as finding high levelsof dust mites in synthetic duvets,the researchers found six toseven times more dust mites insynthetic pillows compared topillow feathers.

“It is possible that theincreasing use of syntheticbedding materials over the past20 years has increased the

RESEARCHERS CHALLENGE AGE-OLDBEDROOM ADVICE

Dust mites: not the most desirable of bed-mates.

severity of asthma in NewZealand.”

The problem seems to becaused by the covers on syntheticduvets and pillows rather thanthe filling of the bedding,according to Crane. He sayscovers on synthetic bedding havea much looser weave comparedto feather coverings and thisallows dust mites to penetratethe bedding more easily.

“Dust mites would growperfectly happily in feathers but wesuspect that they can’t penetrate thecovering on this type of bedding.”

In the past, synthetic beddingmaterials were specificallyrecommended to people withallergies, but Crane says thisapproach is clearly not a good idea.

“The best advice is firstly tohave a simple skin prick test forcommon allergies. If this shows areaction to house dust mites,consider covering pillows and duvetswith mite impervious covers.TheAsthma and Respiratory Foundationcan supply these covers.”

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INBRIEF

For an artist, Scott Eady’s studiolooks kind of sparse at themoment.A duck decoy here. Amannequin’s head there.Whilethis year’s Frances HodgkinsFellow confirms he has plenty ofprojects in mind, he’s cagey aboutsaying exactly what. But he’sprepared to hint,“they’ll be big”.

It wouldn’t surprise. Eady, whoholds a Master of Fine Arts with amajor in sculpture fromAuckland’s Elam School of Art,has made a name for himselfcreating large-scale, hard case andincreasingly shiny works of art.The sheet metal, inside-outumbrella that lay outside theWellington City Art Galleryduring the city’s Festival of theArts this year was one of his.

It’s a style that’s been helpedby years working in theconstruction industry. Eady“builds” his sculptures, drawingupon skills in joinery, welding andfibreglass moulding. Meanwhile, aninterest in masculinity – “how it’s

FELLOW LOOKS TO SOUTH FORINSPIRATION

Frances Hodgkins Fellow Scott Eady, seeking inspiration in Otago.

expressed, how perceptions of ithave evolved over time, and therole the Village People has playedin that” – underlie much of hiswork.

As for this year’s body ofwork, Eady says he’s finding plentyof inspiration in the south. Signson scarfie flats, mostly too rudeto print, crack him up. Hementions an interest in Dunedin’sfashion renaissance, and bandiesaround words like “collaboration”.And he still shakes his head indisbelief as he recalls drivingthrough remotest Dansey’s Pass,and coming across Maniototofarmer Eden Hore’s museum of70s evening dresses.

“Incredible,” he says.“That’sgot to go in somewhere.”

Activating different conceptualpathways in the brain might helpstroke patients learn tocommunicate again.

This is the theory being testedby University of Otago psychologistDr Liz Franz. She is using ahandwriting task to investigatethe different problems strokevictims have with communication,looking at 20 people fromcommunity stroke foundations.

“People with stroke can havedifficulty communicating,” saysFranz.“But since motor control isat the bottom of the hierarchy,trouble at higher levels can bedisguised as motor. Somethingcould look like a motor problembut really be a memory problem.”

As part of their approach, adigitiser tablet and magneticsensitive pens are used, soparticipants can write directlyonto a screen, which then feedsinto a computer that records theX-Y position of every penmovement.

STROKE VICTIMS MAY BENEFIT FROMCOGNITION RESEARCH

Dr Liz Franz hopes results from her handwriting tasks will be usedto help stroke patients learn to communicate again.

“We can take apart simplespatial and temporal variables.This is what makes our projectnovel.”

One study, still in its earlystages, examines things like apatient’s ability to write a lowercase “L” and a number one.Despite these being the samesymbol, Franz hypothesises thatthere will be a difference inperformance if the symbol isembedded in a word or anumber.

Franz hopes her research willhelp develop a cognitive therapyfor stroke patients.

“If we can activate differentconceptual structures in thebrain, we might help the ability tocommunicate. If language is in adifferent area to maths andsymbols, perhaps we can use theundamaged region to facilitate thedamaged one.”

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The best thing about being anethnomusicologist, according toDr Henry Johnson, is thefieldwork. Especially if you’restudying the music of Ogasawara(Bonin Islands), a series ofsubtropical, scarcely populated,Japanese islands 1000 kilometressouth of Tokyo.

“They’re at such a far remove,both geographically and culturally,from mainland Japanese life,” saysJohnson, who recently spent aweek soaking up the islands’sounds. “They’re seen as paradise.

“And musically,” he adds,“they’re fascinating.” A successionof Micronesian migrants, Europeanand Hawaiian whalers, shipwreckedsailors, and Japanese and Americancolonisers have inhabited theislands in the past 200 years.“Theresult is a decidedly idiosyncraticbrand of folk music.

“English words pop up, forexample, which the singers don’talways understand.The songsinvolve harmonies and Western

JAPANESE MUSIC FINDS ITS WAY TOMAINSTREAM

Dr Henry Johnson: an ethnomusicologist with the good sense tostudy the sounds of an idyllic tropical paradise, Ogasawara.

chord structures, but also have avery Pacific flavour, and are oftenaccompanied by a style of dancingmore commonly seen in Pacificislands.”

But what really interestsJohnson is the way Ogasawara’senvironment, history andtraditions have been claimed –and embellished – bycontemporary Japanese pop acts.

Ogasawara’s music nowappears in the internationalmarket as sentimental ballads,layered with the sounds of water,birds and Hawaiian guitar.

Elsewhere, a DJ named Kyontakes traditional folk tunes, runs adisco drum track behind them,and throws in some blues piano.

“The musicians emphasise alove of the land and a celebrationof diversity, whereas Japan is oftenseen as an homogenous societywith a poor environmentalrecord. There are a lot of veryinteresting paradoxes going on.”

Scientists Associate ProfessorMike Eccles and Dr Mike Leggeare combining their knowledge ofgenetics and embryology to mapneural pathways in themammalian brain.Their highlyoriginal model for investigatingmaternal behaviour has long-termimplications for understandingdifferences in gender and associatedtriggers of behaviour.

Eccles’ fascination with genesgrew from his PhD research intothe nature of cancer genes. Hewent on to ask how inheritedbehaviour could be examinedthrough specific forms of genemanipulation. He joined forceswith Legge when they discoveredtheir areas of interest overlapped.Legge’s background is inembryology and his work utilisesmouse reproductive genetics tocomplement Eccles’ expertise.

They recently received a$660,000 Marsden grant to fund athree-year research programmefocusing on the brain mest-genemutation, a gene which influencesmaternal instincts. Behaviour will

MAPPING BEHAVIOUR IN THE BRAIN

Otago’s Associate Professor Mike Eccles and Dr Mike Legge will explore unknown regions of the brain, shedding light onnurturing behaviour.

be tested in relation to how thegene is inherited in a particulararea of the brain depending onwhich parent the gene has comefrom. This will allow Eccles andLegge to map altered behaviour inrelation to specific regions of thebrain. From this they willdetermine the origins and theunderlying mechanisms thatinform nurturing andplacentophagia (ingestion of theplacental tissue).

Legge explains the process:“This approach allows us access[to the brain] and the opportunityto say, ‘it appears that in this areaof the brain we might see thisparticular behaviour’.” Thismethod side steps the issue ofinaccessibility. It allows science toinvestigate the complex machineryof the human brain, yielding fargreater accuracy than simplyobserving behaviour can offer.While the research does not aimto solve behaviour patterns, theoutcome could assist psychiatrists,for example, looking at behaviourfrom other perspectives.

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SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY HOUSE SURGEONRACHEL WALTERS AND POSTGRADUATE STUDENTMATT BARKER ARE BOTH UNUSUAL CASES –WALTERS FOR STAYING IN NEW ZEALAND FOR ATIME AFTER GRADUATION,AND BARKER FORRETURNING TO FURTHER STUDY.

FEATURE

c r i s i sLOOMS IN DENTISTRY

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PROFESSOR PETER INNES RECOGNISED AN AUSTRALIANFROM QUEENSLAND’S DENTAL SERVICE IN THE LIFT ATTHE OTAGO DENTAL SCHOOL. HE KNEW SHE HADN’TFLOWN ACROSS THE TASMAN TO VISIT HIM.

As bold as brass, the Australian was walking the corridorsrecruiting Otago graduates with promises of bigger money.Feeling annoyed and helpless, there wasn’t a thing the Dean ofthe Dental School could do to stop her.

Despite a recent High Court victory proving the previousGovernment was wrong to slash funding for dentistrystudents in 1994, it is not enough to stem the flow of newly-trained dentists heading overseas to reply enormous studentloans with stronger currencies.

As each graduate heads offshore, that means one less dentistor specialist to work in our dental surgeries and public hospitals.

As the haze lifts from this funding disaster, holes areappearing in New Zealand’s dental workforce that ourgraduates once filled.

To a social-minded person who has dedicated his life totraining dentists for the past 30 years, Innes is frustrated to seegraduates leave - knowing the taxpayer, who spends $140,000on each dentistry graduate, is literally not getting the returnsthey should.

But if this court outcome was round one of a bigger battle,the University of Otago and the 460 graduates who took theaction could not have hoped to pack a more powerful punch.

In the judgement, the National Government’s surpriseBudget night announcement in 1994 to slash the school’sfunding by almost 50% was declared unlawful, and thedecision-making process “irrational”.

In her decision, Justice Goddard sharply criticised thethen Education Minister, Dr Lockwood Smith, who hadthought he could make savings by making the educationfunding for training dentists and doctors the same. Thismeant funding for each full-time dental student shrank from$40,334 to $25,001 per year.

But what Smith and his ministry failed to take intoaccount was that, for their clinical training, medical studentshad access to hospitals, funded through the health budget,

while all clinical aspects of dentistry education are providedby the University and had to be taken from the Educationbudget.

The blunder sent dental student fees soaring from around$7600 to $23,000 a year as the University scrambled to recovercosts. Fees for all subjects had steadily risen, but no otherfaculty experienced such a sudden and dramatic fees’ hike.The University absorbed the increase for students who hadalready commenced their training, but new students wereconfronted with the higher fees.

So it was with a strong sense of injustice that 460 dentalgraduates joined the University in seeking the court ruling torecover lost costs from the Government. By then, each wassaddled with debts averaging $80,000.

The University and graduates are waiting and hoping thatthe Labour-led coalition Government (which opposed theaction of the National Government while in opposition, andrestored the fees for undergraduate dentistry students back toaround $9000 a year in 2000) will repay the money owed –some $15 million, including interest. At the time of press, theGovernment was still considering whether it would appeal.

“The court win vindicated everything we’ve been sayingfor the past eight years, but it’s only just the start,” Innes says.

There is evidence that the student debts have already setin train trends that are detrimental to our dental workforce.

The Dental Council of New Zealand - the body whichregisters dentists – has figures showing many of Otago’s dentalgraduates are leaving and staying overseas longer, leaving toofew behind to meet the needs of communities.

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SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY DEAN PROFESSOR PETER INNES (LEFT):“THE COURT WIN VINDICATED EVERYTHING WE’VE BEEN SAYINGFOR THE PAST EIGHT YEARS, BUT IT’S ONLY JUST THE START.”

on you while you’re trying to learn such a lot, not only aboutyour profession but also about life in general.”

The problem of graduate retention is not all about themoney. When some graduates leave New Zealand, they maysimply be returning home.

Overseas students studying on residency permits make up40% of the total 54 students accepted into dentistry this year.Grades are the sole criterion used for entry and the average markrequired is now A- to A. It used to be in the B to B+ range.

The concern for New Zealand’s dental profession is thatso many graduates – overseas and New Zealand-born – aretaking one-way flights out of New Zealand, rather thanworking in New Zealand for a period after graduation.Innes believes there is a way of at least partially addressing theworkplace shortage.

At the moment the Government has capped the numberof students at 54, with an additional 10 full-fee paying students.He wants to lift the local cap from 54 to 64 (the maximumphysical capacity of the school) to help the workforce needs ofNew Zealand.

Innes says the numbers allowed into dentistry were set inthe 1980s on the basis of New Zealand’s projected workforceneeds, not on the basis of what other nations require for theirpopulations.

“There’s no shortage of people wanting to be dentists, andI don’t believe you need an A average to be a good practitioner,”he says.

Dental Council of New Zealand chairman Brent Stanleybelieves the University needs to change its selection criteria sothat the extremely high grades, coupled with the high fees, arenot a barrier to those who genuinely want to stay and work inNew Zealand.

At present, overseas-trained dentists from places likeIndia, Iraq and South Africa are coming here to practise asdentists and specialists, plugging some of the gaps in theworkforce caused by graduates failing to return.

“We get up to 15 or 16 applications for New Zealanddental registration from overseas-trained dentists per month –that’s a substantial increase on previous years,” Stanley says.

“Basically, the influx of dentists from overseas ismaintaining our workforce. Without them, the situation couldbe more dramatic.”

The New Zealand Dental Association backs the call for achange in the way applicants are assessed.

“When we talk to graduates, a proportion of them areback in their countries of origin,” says Association chairmanDavid Crum.

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The latest council-commissioned workforce analysis in2000 indicates that even six years after graduation, more than50 per cent of the class still has not returned to New Zealand.Traditionally, graduates would leave and work overseas, butmost would have returned after four years.

Of those who graduated in 1996, for example, only 42%of those surveyed were working here four years later.In March, Rachel Walters – a house surgeon at the dentalschool – leaves for the United Kingdom.

At 23, she has a debt of $86,000. Since graduating in 2000,she’s not made any real headway in repaying the capital, letalone the interest – pretty difficult on around $40,000 a year.

She admits that, while she wants to see the world, she willprobably have to stay away longer than she wants, estimatingit will take around four years working solidly to pay off herloan. She can earn around 40,000 pounds a year overseas.

She could go home to Otorohanga in the King Countryand work for the local rural dentist and live free with herparents. That way she could pay it off in seven years onaround $50,000 to $70,000. But she doesn’t think that wouldbe fair on her or her parents.

In spite of the debt burden, she remains upbeat.“I don’t like having it but it doesn’t really affect me

because I’m just glad to be doing something I enjoy. I’m not atthe stage where I want to buy a house yet.

“My parents are more worried than I am, because they’ve beenfarming all their lives and they’ve had to live with debt,” she says.

About half of her class is overseas working towards payingoff loans. Some were attracted to Australia, others to the UKas well. Then there are some who have returned to theircountries of origin.

She’s hoping the Government will honour the judgementand pay her some of the $20,000 she is owed.

Julian Haszard, 25, was three days out from leaving forLondon when he heard about the judgement. After graduating,he got a job with the New Zealand Defence Forces as a dentistand worked two other jobs after hours to save money for histravel expenses.

“It was a great way to leave the country knowing somethinghad finally gone in our favour,” he says.

Still, the news didn’t make him cancel his plane ticket. Hewill soon start work in Victoria, central London, and makesome headway on his $138,000 debt. His first year was 1995 –the class most affected by the rise in dental student fees.

“Because of the fees, I became very conscious of money invirtually everything I did. Some could say that was a blessingin disguise. But I don’t believe it is healthy to have that burden

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“Those who stay would rather work in the main centresbecause that fits better with their culture. They don’t identifywith the rural areas, which desperately need graduates.”

Innes admits he is under some pressure to interviewstudents pre-entry. But this could leave the university open toaccusations of discrimination. Instead, perhaps a person wouldneed to be a resident in New Zealand for two years before theycan apply. Or both New Zealand and overseas students couldhave some sort of bursary from the Government and pay itback by working in New Zealand afterwards. These are ideasthat may be explored.

Clearly, the loss of graduates is starting to affect ordinaryNew Zealanders needing a dentist.

Says Innes: “Until the higher fees came in, we had a mixof students who were keen to work across the spectrum ofsociety – all socio-economic areas. They seem to be comingmainly from the higher socio-economic areas now.

“Will a student from Remuera want to treat people in Otara?”Rural areas and larger provincial towns are now suffering

from patient overload - a situation that has noticeablyworsened since the funding blunder.

Dentists on the West Coast of the South Island, inSouthland and Gisborne are under increasing stress, says Crum.

In those areas, the population-to-dentist ratio is onedentist for every 3000 people, compared to the optimal ratioof one for every 1500 to 2000 in the main cities.

Unable to get graduates to work in their practices, somedentists can’t even find buyers if they want to retire.

Dentists are constantly on call, cannot get a break andburn out easily. For communities reliant on only one dentist,that means long waiting lists for work people need done intheir mouths.

If these dentists have to walk away from their practices,then that will leave whole communities without care, orhaving to travel long distances to get it.

Crum says the debt problem and a global market fordentists and specialists doesn’t help.

What graduate would want to go into a rural area underthose circumstances, when they could go to Australia?

Again, it isn’t hard to find an example of the very thingthe Dental Association is concerned about.

Garth Forbes is the sole dentist in Wairoa: population 9000.The last newly qualified Dental School graduate he had,

worked with him from 1995 to 1997.Since then, Forbes hasn’t been able to attract any new

graduates, not without trying. The last graduate to inquirewent to Australia where he could earn $40,000 a year more.

He laughs when asked if he’s on call.“Yes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are four

rural doctors here. I’m on my own,” he says.He withdrew his practice from the market last year after

trying to sell it for the previous three. It cost about $300,000to set up, yet the asking price was around $250,000.

Fortunately, he helped build another practice in EastTamaki as an investment, and that would hopefully see himright in retirement when he decides to leave Wairoa.

“We like Wairoa though. The climate’s good, the fishing’sgood and we’ve got a great lifestyle,” he says.

“But lifestyle alone is not going to be enough for ruralhealth practitioners to come here.”

He believes if a graduate should want to go there, theywould get a wide variety of experience on people with dentalor oral health problems.

If he had his way, the Government would sponsor brightrural children willing to return to rural areas once they graduated,or pay off student loans after a period of rural service.

Unless something changes dramatically, there is also alooming shortage of specialists that could hit New Zealand inabout 10 years as the old guard retire.

The Dental Council’s workforce analysis at 2000 shows a

WAIROA DENTIST GARTH FORBESALWAYS ASSUMED RETIREMENT WOULDINCLUDE SALE OF HIS PRACTICE TO A YOUNGER COUNTERPART.THE REALITY IS QUITE DIFFERENT.

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decline in the numbers of dentists in postgraduate training.In 1996, 37 dentists were in postgraduate studies, 47 in 1997,52 in 1998, 42 in 1999, 36 in 2000, and 27 in 2001. There are39 postgraduates enrolled in dentistry this year.

Unlike the medical registrar programme for doctors,dentists have no access to relatively well paid jobs in publichospitals while they do their specialist course. Either they stayin practices earning up to $100,000 a year, or they take theplunge and go for three years without income and come out as aspecialist.

Matt Barker, 32, returned from overseas after paying offhis first student loan and started his postgraduate course inorthodontics last year.

The fees are $22,000 per year, and on no income he admitsit is difficult, although his partner, a teacher, is very supportive.

He’s not ruling out going overseas to work as a specialist topay off his predicted $66,000 debt when he’s finished the course.

In the past three years, seven people have graduated asspecialists in orthodontics. Of these, six have moved overseas,with only one returning so far.

Postgraduate study is a major upheaval for partners andfamilies. Some postgraduate students commute from as farafield as Christchurch and Wellington, travelling home at weekends.

“I believe in contributing towards my education, but$22,000 a year, on top of a lack of income for three years, ishighly discouraging,” he says.

Professor Tom Kardos is a teacher at the Dental School.With a dearth of students wanting to do postgraduate studies,he says, come fewer people wanting to study beyond theirMaster’s and doing PhDs in dentistry. He’s always believed theSchool of Dentistry needs to maintain its internationalreputation for producing high quality research.

“Our cream of the crop of graduates are going overseas.Most of them specialise but very few come back and do PhDs,which take another three or four years of full-time researchand study.

“The profession cannot advance without a strong researchbase. Without graduates entering into research-based careers,the reputation of dental education in New Zealand will beeroded.”

All this creates a vicious cycle that the Dean fears has thepotential to gradually erode the Dental School over a numberof years.

“I agree we need more staff – not only clinicallycompetent but also with a good research background. Itwould be great to see more New Zealand graduates becomingteaching staff. Otherwise the shortage will affect us and wewill end up needing to recruit mostly overseas teaching staffwho may not have the research desire or capabilities,” he says.

He believes the problems caused by the funding error canwork their way out of the system in a few years. But thepostgraduate fees need to be reduced now or the shortage ofspecialists and academics in dentistry will see a demise ininternational standing.

Postgraduate courses are funded by the Clinical TrainingAgency, an arm of the Ministry of Health. They have refusedto lift the subsidy that would allow the school to lower thefees, but more efforts are being made to get them to changethat stance.

“Their main priority, which worries us, is making surethey have enough people to staff the public health system. Butmost dentists don’t work in hospitals, so if that’s their prioritythen they’re not going to fund much in the way of dentalgraduates,” says Innes.

“But if we don’t do something, 10 years down the roadthere will be a problem providing specialist clinical care and aconsiderable group in society won’t be able to afford dentaltreatment from specialists.”

Staff at the dental school are already seeing moreDunedin people with severe dental disease.

“Some staff are telling me the state of dental health in thiscountry is as bad as it was when I was a student in the 60s,”Innes says.

“When I first came as Dean in 1992, the oral surgery staffcomplained that students were getting limited experience inextracting teeth. Now the number of extractions the dentalschool does has been going up 10% to 12% each year."

“It’s great experience for students but bad news for thepopulation.”

So, is a return to poor oral health in this country the endproduct of systemic rot creeping into our dental health system?

Crum says the Association does not have any recentstatistics available on the state of the nation’s teeth.

A comprehensive study was last done in 1988. He says it istime the Government dedicated some research funding foranother so we are better informed.

If there are two bright spots on the horizon, it is that NewZealand is still seen by many graduates as a great place to live.And our dollar is rising.

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DR GHAZALI MUSASETTLES DOWN TO

ACADEMIC LIFE,AFTER A LIFETIMEOF ADVENTURE.

PROFILE

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ORIGINALLY FROM MALAYSIA, MUSA’S EARLYACADEMIC CAREER PLACED HIM IN MEDICINE,WHICHHE PRACTISED FOR FIVE YEARS IN MALAYSIA ANDSINGAPORE. His interest in human geography developedwhile travelling through more than 50 countries worldwide.Today, he combines his knowledge of travel and endurancesports with his medical background.

Musa’s PhD on the health effects of high-altitude pursuitson travellers in Tibet and Nepal was completed late last year. Itwas inspired while he was still a medical doctor, on one of hisgreatest adventures - cycling 1000 kilometres across Tibet,from Lhasa to Kathmandu. He challenged himself to maintainspeed at a height of 5000 metres, while crossing mountainpasses on the Tibetan plateau. Despite his medical backgroundand rigorous preparation, he developed altitude sickness. Onreflection, he began to ask himself why a medical doctor,knowing the consequences of high altitude pursuits, wouldstill push his physical limits too far.

“I didn't realise this behaviour is no good in high altitude.I shouldn't have had this competitive attitude to challenge mybody in the mountains. You have to respect the mountainsand nature, rather than challenge them. You should enjoy theexperience and immerse yourself in it.”

As part of his Postgraduate Diploma in Tourism, startedat Otago in 1997, Musa surveyed the geographical aspects of

diver satisfaction at Sipadan Island, Malaysia. He knew scuba-diving and combined this with his expanding knowledge ofhuman geography. He gained a distinction for this thesis,before embarking on his PhD.

His initial application to carry out research in Tibet wasrejected by Chinese officials. Undaunted, he went toKathmandu in Nepal, a city where 70 per cent of touriststravelling to Tibet begin and end their journey. Here, heconducted his research freely, focusing on internationaltourists and examining their travel preparations, theirmotivations for travelling, their knowledge of the area andtheir behaviour in the mountains. Finally he recorded theirhealth consequences and how they coped.

The interaction of body and mind is known aspsychoneuroimmunology. The science takes account of themind and emotions’ effects on immune function, which canbe greatly enhanced when the mind engages positively withstress in the environment.

Musa’s research discovered that travellers’ motivationshad a positive or negative effect on their health. Those whotravelled to Tibet or Nepal for spiritual reasons, for example todeepen their understanding of Buddhism, were less likely toget sick than people who travelled for physical adventure.

“Spiritual travellers are basically psychologically calm.Why are they less prone to becoming sick? We're not quite

DOCTORAL RESEARCH

INSPIRED BY HIGH-ALTITUDE SPORTS

GHAZALI MUSA SPENT HIS TWENTIES PURSUING HIS LOVE OF TRAVEL AND SPORT.

FROM SKY DIVING TO SNOW BOARDING,SCUBA DIVING TO LONG DISTANCE CYCLING,

HIS PURSUITS HAVE BEEN THOSE OF AN ADVENTURER.

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sure in terms of activity - perhaps they engage in lessstrenuous activity or know their own limits better.”

He also profiled adventure travellers whose motivationswere physical. Surprisingly, they were more prone to sickness,despite better preparation than the spiritually inclined. Theylearnt more about the local area they were travelling to, andwere more likely to immunise.

“But people who travel to ‘get away’ bring theiranxiousness to the mountains. On the mountains, you're notencouraged to move higher without proper acclimatisation.For people who have this anxious style, they tend to move upthe mountain too fast.”

This is, not surprisingly, one of the main causes ofmountain sickness.

Musa identified other elements in the equation. Thepresence or lack of competition was a factor in the healthoutcomes. People who travelled with a group of friends weremore likely to develop mountain sickness or respiratoryailments than those who travelled alone, because of theculture of rivalry in groups. The lone traveller fared betterbecause of lack of competition, while the spiritual travellerdisregarded competition entirely. The latter two concentratedon the experience itself.

He found that tour-operated groups were less likely to getsick than groups of friends. Detailed planning and accountingfor the dangers of extreme and unfamiliar physical conditions,such as weather and atmospheric conditions, mitigated thelikelihood of mountain sickness.

Musa returns to Otago later this year to take up a visitinglectureship in the Department of Tourism. His long-term planis to specialise in health tourism, but first he plans to broadenhis knowledge base in all aspects of tourism, includingtourism management, culture and heritage.

He feels privileged to be offered a position at Otago, auniversity he holds in very high regard. But he confides thatDunedin is not a long-term option for him. “I cannot denyOtago is very, very beautiful. But sometimes I feel the isolationhere, it’s a bit too far from the major cities of Asia and Europe.”

Although Musa grew up in a small fishing village on theeast coast of Malaysia, he moved to Kuala Lumpur at a youngage to study. Since then, he has travelled the world pursuingan academic career, including time at the University of Holland.

His travels have instilled in him a strong sense of culturalawareness and his passions extend beyond the appreciation ofnature. He is committed to educating people on issues ofcultural tolerance, and is passionate about world peace.Religious and cultural tolerance, and diminishing the gapbetween rich and poor worldwide are as important to him ashis academic commitments.

While he now advocates a less frenetic approach to sportand adventure, he has certainly challenged himself in manyfields. When asked about his many awards and accolades,Musa seems genuinely confused by the question. His modestymasks a career of high achieving. Reading through his resumereveals numerous awards in swimming, including a BronzeMedal at the Australian World Masters Games in 1993, and hehas climbed a dozen or so of the world's highest mountains.

During the past 15 years, he has reaped the rewards thatcome from pushing the limits of physical fitness and mentalendurance that characterise high calibre sportingachievements. But now, at 36, Musa is looking forward to aquieter life. He plans to return to trekking; however, with arevised sense of adventure.

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Maari McCluskey

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“The knowledge society” is a recent political slogan. It soundslike a good idea. Education is implicated because teachers areseen as contributing to knowledge, to what people know. Butthe word “society” in this slogan is also important. Since 1984,our major political parties and those who vote for them haveemphasised a neoliberal New Right focus on the individual.Our communities and institutions are thought of in terms ofself-seeking people making choices that will benefitthemselves. Independence, not interdependence, is the newsocial and moral order.

Along with this, New Zealand has adopted a commercialmarket model of human behaviour that pervades all sectors.While commerce and competition are a dynamic and oftencreative aspect of an economy, it is not necessarily the casethat commercial values and procedures can deliver education,health and social services on an effective and equitable basis.In our education system, for example, the market model hasseen schools increasingly divided along socio-economic andethnic lines with inequality of resources and a decline instudent performance in those schools that are the marketlosers in this competitive system.

Research on poverty and a loss of social cohesion in NewZealand shows that income inequality has grown more rapidlyin New Zealand than in other OECD countries. A third of allNew Zealand children and 72% of single-parent families livebelow the poverty line. The well-being of people who arepoor, and through that the well-being of communities ingeneral, might be improved by quality public services. Butfrom their voting behaviour, it would appear that the majorityof New Zealanders do not want a taxation rate that would allowfor an appropriately funded public health, education and welfaresystem. In that case, I think the idea of “society” warrants scrutiny.

A commitment to individualism and to a commercialmarket model also has implications for our working lives. The

ideological belief that we are primarily motivated by self-interest carries with it the implication that we are not to betrusted. We need “incentives” to make us work. Our schoolsand other institutions must operate in an environment ofmarketplace contestability so that we must constantly bethreatened to perform or perish, we must be watched andendlessly reviewed, assessed and audited to ensure that the“purchaser” (employer, student, parent…) gets maximum(“efficient”) and “quality” benefit from the “provider” (teacher,lecturer, principal…). Because people cannot be trusted,relationships must be contractual and written down.Engagement with others thus becomes a technical matter, onethat is described in increasingly fine detail, requiring aparticular language of charters, governance, goals, objectives,strategies, profiles and portfolios.

Teachers, from primary to tertiary, who becomeembedded in these concepts and practices may becomecompliant and self-regulating – surely the ultimate controllingachievement of seemingly endless performance assessmentsand reviews, and a serious threat to risk taking and creativity.Some may take on the identity of the so-called newprofessionalism, serving the ideology and structures ofglobalised capital as managers of “learning outcomes”. Someresist and subvert. But for others, performative institutions arealienating and dehumanising. They experience whatsociologist Richard Sennett describes as the “corrosion ofcharacter” which emerges when commitment andresponsibility (which are not the same as an externallymonitored “accountability”) are not valued. They will be lostfrom education, from health and from other institutions – thevery institutions that a knowledgeable society might beexpected to rely on for the well-being of all.

OPINION

KNOWLEDGE and SOCIETY?

Professor Keith Ballard, Dean, School of Education Phot

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FEATURE

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AFTER NINE YEARS IN SAUDI ARABIA,DR PHIL SEDDON

RETURNS TO OTAGO TO DIRECT THE

WILDLIFE MANAGEMENTDIPLOMA COURSE.

PLANNING FOR

TOURISM IN

THE

MIDDLE EAST

The Rub’ al Khali, Saudia Arabia’s Empty Quarter.

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Seddon and van Heezik were concerned with theconservation management of native species within a numberof terrestrial protected areas. However, these areas werehuman exclusion zones: to keep the wildlife safe inside theareas, they kept people on the outside. This policy meant theprotected areas did not get much public support or funding.In order to generate more public interest in the areas, theSaudi wildlife authorities realised they needed to provideopportunities for recreational activities that would bringpeople into these areas, but have minimal impact on theenvironment. These activities could be structured to increasepublic awareness of the need for conservation. Such acombination of outdoor recreation and conservation is thecore of true ecotourism. And that is Seddon’s area of expertise.

But planning for tourism development in Saudi Arabia isvery different to planning in tourism for New Zealand. At thestart of last century, Saudi Arabia was a patchwork of warringsheikhdoms that became united under a charismatic leader,Ibn Saud. In 1938, the newly-created Kingdom of SaudiArabia hit oil. At the time of peak oil production and peakprices during the 1980s, the Kingdom was making US$3000per second. Seddon says Saudi Arabia is an example of whathappens when you take a largely nomadic and conservativesociety and add unlimited money. It has since becomeincreasingly urbanised, with vast improvements in health,

IN A COUNTRY MOST OF US MAY NEVER VISIT,DR PHIL SEDDON WEARS A RED CHECKED CLOTH ONHIS HEAD. HIS WIFE, DR YOLANDA VAN HEEZIK, IS NOTALLOWED TO DRIVE IN PUBLIC, BUT OFF-ROAD TAKESTHE WHEEL.THEY HAVE A PET FOX.THERE IS ACOMPLETE ALCOHOL BAN.

For nine years, the Kiwi couple lived in Saudi Arabia. Now, theUniversity of Otago graduate and his wife are back at Otago’sDepartment of Zoology, where Seddon heads the wildlifemanagement diploma course. He still liaises with the SaudiTourism and Wildlife Commissions as they work to establish amaster plan for Saudi Arabian tourism that also protects theland and its wildlife.

After completing his PhD in Zoology in 1988, on theimpacts of habitat loss on the breeding success of yellow-eyedpenguins on the Otago Peninsula, Seddon and van Heeziktook up post-doctoral positions in South Africa. There hestudied the breeding strategies of the African penguin. Basedon his arid-land experience, he landed a job in Saudi Arabia,as research co-ordinator at the National Wildlife ReserveCentre (NWRC), primarily working with two Arabian species- the houbara bustard and the Arabian oryx.

Seddon went to Saudi with no preconceived ideas aboutwhat it was going to be like.

“I was completely ignorant. I was like a sponge; whateverhappened, I just absorbed it.”

He and van Heezik learned to speak what he calls“survival Arabic”, because the rangers they worked with didnot speak English.

“Arabic is relatively easy to speak badly and hard to speakwell,” he says. “We knew enough to talk about wildlife, but weprobably said all sorts of outrageous things and didn’t evenknow it. The rangers were too polite to laugh, or too stunned!”

Saudi Arabia is a country with a lot of unspoken rules: aconservative society, with restrictions on where expatriates cango, and what they can do. The society follows a strictinterpretation of Islam, although Seddon says some publicattitudes have been diluted somewhat through satellitetelevision.

Women cannot show their faces, or even their hair inpublic. “A man won't necessarily have ever seen his sister-in-law’s face.”

Cultural restrictions meant it was inappropriate for himever to meet his colleagues’ wives.

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Dr Phil Seddon:back in New Zealand but still working

with Saudi wildlife authorities.

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education and lifestyle. But the oil dollar has also broughtdamaging consequences to natural habitats and wildlife.

“They’ve developed so very far so fast. They suddenlyhave all the trappings of developed society but the speed ofchange has meant attitudes have not adjusted at the same rate.Littering is a major problem; hunting is a favourite pastime;goats and sheep overgraze the natural vegetation in mostareas. There are also many unsophisticated nature touristswho would rather have access to amusement parks, than enjoya natural setting for itself. Because tourism is in its early stagesand protected areas have not allowed people in before, SaudiArabia is in a good position to plan for ecotourism fromscratch and look to other countries for guidance.

“In Australia and in Canada, ecotourism planning issophisticated and comprehensive. New Zealand is not yet aworld leader in ecotourism management, but is likely to movein the right direction. For Saudi Arabia, we can point to thebest examples and say ‘there's a system that works: whatfeatures can we apply?’.”

But it is important always to be aware of the physical andsocial contexts. “Something that works in New Zealand won'tnecessarily work in the Middle East. You have to gauge theattitudes of Saudis to things, find out what people want to doon holiday and then provide for appropriate leisure activitiesand facilities that minimise the impact on the environment.”

For Seddon, one of the best things about working inSaudi was the responsibility he was given. “There are far toofew people working on conservation management, so onceyou’re on site you have more and more opportunity to dothings - just because there’s no one else there to do them.Once you get within the system and become trusted by theSaudi authorities, it’s a fast track to get into the position whereyou’re contributing to government policy.”

One of the things he noticed most upon returning to NewZealand was just how publicly people live. In Saudi Arabia,Seddon and van Heezik’s house was a traditional design. Ithad small external windows and was built around a courtyardgarden to accommodate the cultural importance of privacy.

New Zealanders’ casual attire also provided a cultureshock. “There’s much more flesh exposed. Men wear shorts totown here. If they wore them to town in Saudi, they'd bedragged off the streets for being inappropriately dressed intheir underwear.”

A shame given Saudi temperatures, which can be up to 48degrees Celsius in the shade and 60-plus degrees Celsius in the sun.

One man Seddon knew took an off-road short cut on hisway home from work and broke down in a sandy patch. “Itwas the middle of summer. He made the mistake of walkingand only lasted a couple of hours. He was just on his way home.”

Work in protected areas took Seddon, van Heezik andtheir now five-year-old son, Connor, to some remote locations.He was always uneasy being in such places with his familybecause there was so little room for error. Not only was thereheat to contend with, there was also potential for disasterarising from such things as snakebites, or even just punctures.When they went into the field, they always took at least 40

litres of water. On some trips, they had to take three sparetyres and a puncture repair kit because the basalt rock of theNorthern deserts tears tyres. “We averaged a puncture a weekup there, and came back with the tyres all patched up.” But hesays it’s possible to do field work in extreme heat - you justhave to drink a lot and move slowly.

It took the family more than a year to get used toDunedin temperatures again, when they returned for Connorto start school. Nine years was a long time to be anywhere,says Seddon. The couple have a five-year contract at Otago,which they hope will become permanent. In Saudi Arabia,they had one-year contracts, and were sacked three times bythe French management at the research centre. The couplewere a bargaining chip for the centre: if the programme wasnot given more money by the Saudi Government, then theFrench sub-contractor argued they would have to lose some oftheir field research workers (as opposed to their managementstaff). “It worked, in that the Government increased theCentre's budget, but it was a funny way to make us feel likevalued employees,” he laughs.

Returning to Dunedin has changed their lives in otherways. They had to leave behind something unexpectedlyprecious to them: their pet redfox. Sophie-B was part of astrategy to help captive-bredhoubara bustards survive oncereleased in the wild. More thanone third of those previouslyreleased had been killed bymammalian predators -mostlyred foxes. So van Heezik andSeddon set out to train youngbustards to recognise the fox asa dangerous predator. Thebustards remained unconcernedby the stuffed red fox used atfirst, so the couple decided totrain them using a live fox. Thefamily took Sophie in as a kitand she lived in the house withthem. Seddon says she was likea mix between a dog and a cat:“gorgeous and affectionate”.The training did improvebustard survival rates, butwhen they left Saudi, Sophiewent to Arabia’s WildlifeCentre in Sharjah, United ArabEmirates, where she and a hand-reared male red fox helpeducate children about native wildlife.

For Seddon, the novelty of Saudi Arabia never wore off. “Inever took for granted how very different everything was. Thesmell of incense and spices in the markets, the five daily prayercalls, the summer heat during the day.”

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Male houbara bustard in display plumage.

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PROFILE EMERITUS PROFESSOR JIM FLYNN,

A HUMANITARIAN OFTERRIFYING INTELLECT,

WHOSE LIFETIME OFACHIEVEMENT HASEARNED HIM THEUNIVERSITY OF OTAGODISTINGUISHEDRESEARCH MEDAL.

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AS AN INTERVIEW SUBJECT, EMERITUS PROFESSOR JIMFLYNN’S REPUTATION PRECEDES HIM, SCARILY. A manof principle, he lost academic posts in the United States in the60s for his “pro-black” views. He presented research thatfamously criticised those who believed in the geneticinferiority of blacks. His first-year political studies paper onthe great thinkers of history is legendarily difficult. To cap itall, he has an effect named after him. And while the “Flynneffect” documents rising IQs between generations, I wasn’tbanking on any inter-generational advantage as my particularappointment with the Professor drew closer.

Still, I had been reading Flynn’s latest book How to DefendHumane Ideals. My hopes weren’t high: the dry two-tonecover, the subtitle ‘Substitutes for Objectivity’, and the retailprice of $124.95, suggested Professor Flynn did not have amass audience in mind.

But what Professor Flynn talks about matters. We allknow that we should be nice to one another, but try finding arational basis for this belief. Written clearly and arguedferociously, Flynn fronts up to millennia of moral philosophers,and his achievement is not slight. He offers an approach forpromoting the principles of equality, empathy, humanity anddiversity – all that is good and decent in the world – “withoutusing suspect ethical truth-tests and proofs”.

And, talking me through his ideas, Jim Flynn is friendlyenough: he is concerned about the comfort of my square-toedboots. And his office was a mess, which I found somehowcomforting.

Flynn accepts that yes, it is impossible to prove anyobjective moral truth. “In the end,” he says, “yourcommitment to humane ideals has to come from the heart.”

But according to Flynn, this is no reason to go allNietzsche on it. He points out that, equally, “it’s impossible toprove that any ideals, including ours, lack moral truth”. From aphilosophical standpoint, therefore, the two camps are oneven footing. “So a racist, for example, would have to findother reasons to justify their ‘anti-humane’ position.” And

AN AUDIENCE WITH

PROFESSOR JIM FLYNNthat, says Flynn, is when the combined force of logic alongwith empirically-gathered, critically-analysed data can kick in.

“In my view, anti-humane arguments can be defeated,case by case, on those grounds.”

“My students are often surprised. They think it is enoughto say that racism is wrong and that they have right inherentlyon their side. They come to me now and say, ‘I didn’t realisehow informed you have to be, what you need to learn, topromote these ideals’.”

And Flynn admits that he has to accept the possibilitythat some day he may come up against an opponent who hasa case. “Like [US researcher] Jensen, he had a case. He usedscience to support his position that the genes of blacks explainwhy they, on average, have lower IQs than whites. I think he ismistaken, but future evidence could always go his way.”

True to form, Flynn’s response to Jensen came throughuniting the forces of philosophy and psychology. He called onone hand for a deeper exploration of Jensen’s statistics, and onthe other, he asked people to consider the consequences of hisviews. “Even if you accept Jensen’s case, you still have toconcede that the top 25% of blacks overlap with the top 50%of whites. Each person still has the right to be considered onhis or her merits.”

And in Flynn’s view, this constitutes a strong case foraffirmative action. “If people are judged negatively on thebasis of their race, they should be compensated for thisthrough other mechanisms.”

So, in an ideal society, would equality be valued above all?“Not in the sense that everyone has the same income orpossessions. But those at the higher end of the scale shouldnot be so far removed from those at the lower that they havelost touch with what it’s like to live with less.” Not so muchequality, says Flynn, but empathy.

It’s an ideal, laments Flynn, that New Zealand has spentthe past two decades moving steadily away from. “It’s myworry that we’ve gone too far. Perhaps we can’t get back.”

Nicola Mutch

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ALUMNI INSIGHT

I FIRST CAME TO A SNOWY MOSCOW IN FEBRUARY1981 AS PART OF WHAT WAS THEN THE LARGESTGROUP OF NEW ZEALAND STUDENTS TO ARRIVE INTHE SOVIET CAPITAL - THERE WERE FIVE OF US.Otago University had some relationship with the PushkinInstitute, where it was possible to study Russian for courses ofa few months.

I had been well prepared. Even when I was at school I hadattended university extension classes by the brilliant buteccentric late Dr Nicholas Zisserman.

His successor as head of the Russian department,Associate Professor Peter Stupples, led a stimulating team oflecturers including Dr Andy Barratt, Tom Gott and the lateJim Harvie. I had also been lucky to be taught in my first yearby native Russian Ziunia Parshukova, who had me speaking ahalting version of the language in just a few short months.

Twenty-one years ago the aged and ailing LeonidBrezhnev was still in power and the Soviet Union was creakingto an end that it still did not foresee. Russians could get intotrouble for contacts with foreigners and they kept theirdistance. So easily distinguished by our clothing, hairstylesand even our complexion - fresh fruit was beyond the meansof many Russians and this showed on their wan faces - localsstared at us.

OTAGO GRADUATE ROBIN MUNRONOW LIVES AND WORKS IN MOSCOW.IT IS A DIFFERENT CITY FROM THE ONE HE FIRST VISITED 21 YEARS AGO, BUT STILL FASCINATING IN EVERY REGARD.

EXPAT KIWI AT HOME IN MOSCOW

It could be scary - there was tension in the air after anassassination attempt on Ronald Reagan and I panicked onenight when explosions went off across the city. Was this theend of the world? No, just some fireworks celebrating the Dayof the Soviet Army.

It was my first long period away from home. I was 22 anddidn’t really know how to look after myself. I didn’t like thebland and greasy food served at our hostel and snacked onkefir, a tasty kind of sour milk, bread and oranges whilecharging around exploring the city.

I lost two stone in two weeks and only started payingmore attention to my diet after I fainted one day in the metro.Even then, by the time I left at the end of three months I hadsomething like scurvy – bleeding gums, hair loss and peeling skin.

Today, fresh fruit is available year-round in Moscow – youcan get anything you want in Moscow, provided you have themoney to pay for it.

I made many more trips to Russia – three more timesbefore the Soviet Union collapsed and almost every yearafterwards. I became a journalist, first with the Timaru Heraldand then with The Press in Christchurch and wrote aboutwhat was happening under Gorbachev and Yeltsin.

In 1996, a friend who was a nightwatchman at the nurses’hostel told me about a resident who had been on an American

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One of Moscow’s many street kids takes a nap in a metro station.

Field Scholarship to Russia. She had met a New Zealanderwho was in charge of an English-language newspaper in St.Petersburg.

That year, I travelled to Russia’s second city, met the manand made several contacts in the newspaper business. Overseveral years, one of these blossomed into romance and, inearly 1999, I took some leave without pay from my job inChristchurch and moved in with my partner whom I marriedin 2000.

I wasn’t sure what the job prospects here would be, butvery quickly I started working at The Moscow Times, thecapital’s leading daily English-language paper and have beenhere ever since.

At first, I worked in Ulitsa Pravdy, or the Street of Truth,where numerous small-circulation publications rent roomsnext to huge printing presses that used to spout millions ofpages of Communist propaganda each day. I found the streetname rather Orwellesque - actually it was named after theSoviet newspaper, Pravda. The Moscow Times has since movedto more nondescript premises on the outskirts.

The rich colours and cultures of Moscow’s gypsies,Central Asians and Caucasians could make this aninternational city, but it doesn't have that certain something ofa cosmopolitan metropol like Paris, New York or London.Moscow is not Russia - with the exception of St. Petersburgand a handful of other regional capitals, most of Russia hasbeen drained of the lifeblood of cash and has sunken into akind of economic slumber.

Like most foreign professionals and a fraction of theRussian population, I enjoy a high standard of living and haveinteresting work.

I work for a paper that is read by most of the city’sambassadors and by the bosses of the multinationals that haveopened representative offices here. About 35,000 copies areissued free each day, and it is reputedly popular with studentsof the English language. In any case, more than half of ourreaders are Russian.

I am a reporter writing about news and the currentlybooming real estate sector.

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The editorial staff are about 50:50 Russian and expat.Most of our work concerns the expat community, politics andthe better-off part of society.

But we rub shoulders with the general population whenwe use public transport.

The wealthiest people drive past us in their blackMercedes with tinted windows - but only from one traffic jamto the next - Moscow’s streets are clogged with more cars thanthey can cope with.

I see the poor and the drunks going through the rubbishbins, collecting beer bottles and begging in the metro (subwayor underground) stations and trains. Old women augmenttheir meager pensions (about NZ$200 a month) by sellingfresh herbs, spring onions, and pumpkin and sunflower seedsnear the metro entrances.

Often beggars with one or more limbs missing – injuriesthey presumably sustained in Afghanistan or Chechnya – wearmilitary uniforms. Some of these, however, have never beennear any front and were incapacitated through some act ofdrunkenness.

Young people smoke and drink liberally. Beer is openlyswilled on the street by men and women, partly because of thecheap, high-quality brews that entered the market in the lastfew years.

Every day I see hundreds of men in military uniform.Overspending on the military has been pinpointed as one ofthe key reasons for the demise of the Soviet Union, but theeconomy still supports a giant, impoverished military machine.

The Chechen war is a bleeding wound in the nationalconsciousness, but the public tolerates it with resignation.

The Communists are divided and losing influence, buthomo sovieticus’s ghost haunts daily life: the democraticaspirations that flowered under Gorbachev were swept asideby Yeltsin and his power- and money-grabbing coterie.Things have developed in such a way that there is no visibleopposition to the Kremlin or most regional and municipaladministrations, and no mechanism for making themaccountable to the public.

I like to think of my job as a reporter as a representativeof the public, asking the questions they would like to knowthe answers to. Despite transparency being a word officials liketo bandy around, it takes blood, sweat and tears to get theanswers to the hard questions.

The privatization processes of the early and mid 1990sfailed to create competitive enterprises attractive to investment– much more cash is still flowing out of the country than intoit. A handful of so-called oligarchs control most of the wealth.That wouldn’t matter so much if there were opportunities forothers to do their own thing, but bureaucrats meddle in everyarea of life.

I can recognize the behaviour of minor officials that Iread about at university in works by Gogol and Dostoevsky.Administrators act as if their job is to create masses of red

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The base of a statue in the Ploshchad Revolutsii metro station.

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UNINEWSSNIPPETS

SEYCHELLES SIGNINGAn agreement signed between theUniversity of Otago and the Republic ofthe Seychelles will allow up to ninesponsored Seychellois students to studydentistry and medicine at Otago eachyear.

The University has also agreed tomake places available for sponsoredSeychellois students to undertakepostgraduate study in educationalassessment.

The agreement formalises long-term arrangements for Health Scienceseducation of the people of theSeychelles, and reflects the University’ssuccessful ongoing efforts to diversify itsinternational student base.

ANATOMY MUSEUMThe University’s Anatomy Museum hasbeen named in honour of theoutstanding service of EmeritusProfessor William Trotter, who died lastyear. It is now known as the W. D.Trotter Anatomy Museum.

Professor Trotter was head ofAnatomy and Structural Biology atOtago from 1969-1983. He wasresponsible for the first attempts toremodel the Museum into an accessibleresource centre for students.

NEW MICROSCOPEFACILITIES ESTABLISHED Science Minister Pete Hodgson recentlyopened the university’s new Centre forConfocal Microscopy, which houses theuniversity's two new confocal laserscanning microscopes.

The microscopes, worth more than$900,000, allow researchers to imagelive cells without physically sectioningthem - a major advantage in studyingthe dynamics of cellular function.

Associate Professor John Leader ofthe Department of Physiology says themicroscopes are already opening upexciting new research possibilities.

tape: this spawns corruption, bribery, raises costs and throttles small and medium-sized enterprises.

The nation's leading reformer Economic Development and Trade MinisterGerman Gref wants to change all that. He has instituted and is still driving liberaleconomic changes that should yield sustainable economic growth.

Russians who have studied overseas and the children of Russians who emigratedlong ago are returning with not only the knowledge, but also the culture of doingthings the western way.

They are not simply introducing foreign ways – they bring systems of accountabilityand transparency without which it is impossible to make economically rationaldecisions.

Since the 1998 financial crisis and the devaluation that followed it, the economyhas been getting stronger each year, even in the face of the global downturn.Newspapers live from advertising and The Moscow Times seems sure to be able tothrive here for some years yet.

But, still ranked No. 63 in terms of competitiveness by the World EconomicForum, Russia will take many years of steady progress before it can stand shoulder toshoulder with western economies.

Nevertheless, Russians, who put up the first satellite and the first man in space,like Kiwis, can do anything. If they don’t fall into the old trap of “one step forward,two steps backward” they have a golden future.

Robin Munro was at Otago from 1977 to 1980. He completed aBA(Hons) in Psychology.

If you are an alumni of the University with a story to tell, a culture to shareor an experience to recount – please contact us at mag.editor@otago.ac.nz

ALUMNI INSIGHT continued

Robin Munro

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WORLD-CLASS FERTILITYRESEARCHER RETURNS

University of Otago star graduateProfessor Allan Herbison returns toDunedin from the United Kingdomnext month to create a new researchunit at the University’s School ofMedical Sciences.

The University and UK-based medicalcharity Wellcome Trust are providingmore than $2.5 million so the eminentneuroendocrinologist can establish aDunedin-based research unit investigatinghow the brain controls fertility.

Professor Herbison’s research willfocus specifically on discovering newtreatments for infertility.

Vice-Chancellor Graeme Fogelberg isdelighted one of the University’s mostdistinguished graduates is returning tohis alma mater.

“The University of Otago iscommitted to enhancing the quality ofits research output and ProfessorHerbison and his research team willmake a significant contribution to theUniversity’s worldwide reputation.”

The Otago research unit will belocated in the University’s Departmentof Physiology.

OTAGO SCOOPS HEALTHRESEARCH FUNDING

In its best performance yet, the Universityof Otago won $16.58 million, or 50 percent, of the Health Research Council’stotal available funding.

Twenty-seven Otago research projectsreceived funding for studies ranging fromgene technologies in the fight againstcolorectal cancer to exploring attentiondeficit disorder in children to improvingMäori dental services.

Vice-Chancellor Dr Graeme Fogelbergsays it is an outstanding achievement ina highly-competitive field.

“This is a stellar result for theUniversity of Otago - one which clearlycommends the superior quality of healthresearch being conducted by ourresearchers.”

Otago also led the way last year,receiving $14.39 million (46 per cent) ofthe available funding for 17 projects.

Those results were impressive enough,but the fact that the University was ableto improve its standing this year wasdue in part to the extraordinary effortsof Otago researchers, Fogelberg says.

“Our very best researchers reallycame through for us. To a one, theysubmitted research proposals which notonly demonstrate sound science, butwill potentially result in real healthbenefits to New Zealand society.”

A LEGACY FOR EXCELLENCE

In 1909, Thomas Hocken left £10,000 tothe University of Otago. The result wasthe Hocken Library, one of the twomajor collections dedicated to NewZealand’s past.

In 1943, William Evans, a localfamily doctor, bequeathed the residue ofhis estate, some £70,000, to the University.The William Evans Visiting Fellowshipsbring several distinguished internationalscholars to Otago each year.

In 2000, Priscilla Wunsch left $3million for scholarships to Otago forTaranaki students who couldn'totherwise afford a tertiary education.

You can read these stories and morein a new brochure called A Legacy forExcellence. It explains how to leavemoney to the University through thespecially-established University ofOtago Foundation Trust. It detailsvarious types of bequests and includes asimple codicil form to attach to a will.

Making a donation through a will isa powerful way of supporting theUniversity at a level not possible duringone’s lifetime. It permanently links thename of the donor, or the memory of thoseto whom it is dedicated, to the University.

For a copy of this brochure, pleasecontact the Alumni and DevelopmentOffice, University of Otago, PO Box 56,Dunedin, New Zealand, tel 64 3 479 5246,fax 64 3 4796522 or email alumni@otago.ac.nz.

UNINEWS

The University’s Hocken Library, anational treasure of historicaldocuments, has received a $250,000grant from the Lottery Environmentand Heritage Committee.

The grant will help fund a four-yearproject to ensure the public has onlineaccess to the Hocken's invaluableheritage collections of archives andmanuscripts.

Vice-Chancellor Dr GraemeFogelberg is delighted that the Hocken’s

HOCKEN GOES HI-TECH

role as a resource for all New Zealandersis being supported.

He says it should allow for evengreater public access to the “treasuretrove of important materials”.

Hocken Librarian Stuart Strachansays the library would have fallenfurther behind other nationalinstitutions in terms of access withoutthe grant to progress the project.

“Having those archives andmanuscripts fully catalogued and

searchable online will make a bigdifference to academic researchers andthe general public who turn to theHocken for research material,” he adds.

While the Lottery grant is for twoyears only, the Library is free to re-applyfor future funding to cover the fouryears it is expected to take to achieve itsgoal: 100 per cent computerisedarchiving of the archives andmanuscripts collections and 50 per centof the individual items.

30

UNICLIPPINGSAPPOINTMENTS

Mary Cull as Manager of OU Careers Advisory Service. Shewas previously a director and consultant for the Wellington-based Tall Poppies management consultancy company.

Marian Simms as Professor and Head of the Political StudiesDepartment. Professor Simms was previously Reader inPolitical Science at the Australian National University.

OU Science graduate Ross Peat as Microsoft’s New Zealandcountry manager, replacing another OU graduate GeoffLawrie, who relinquishes the role after six years.

Professor Frank Frizelle of Otago’s Christchurch School ofMedicine and Health Sciences as Editor of the New ZealandMedical Journal.

Ex-New Zealand cricketer Warren Lees as Head ofCumberland Hall of Residence. Mr Lees previously managedthe Otago Boys’ High School Hostel.

Colin Dawson as the first Chief Executive Officer of OtagoInnovation Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Universityof Otago. Mr Dawson was a former Managing Director of theCalan Group.

OU Chemistry graduate Nigel Kirkpatrick as CEO of theCrown Research Institute Industrial Research Limited.

OBITUARIES

Emeritus Professor Peter Coville, of Pharmacy (57).Professor Coville was foundation dean of the OU PharmacySchool, and an internationally influential and respectedacademic and teacher.

Rev Dr Harold Turner (91). Dr Turner had OU’s firstHonorary Doctorate of Divinity conferred on him for hiscontributions to Theology and the University. He foundedArana and Carrington Halls, and pioneered the ecumenicalstudent chaplaincy and later the study of New ReligiousMovements.

Emeritus Professor Tom Cowan, (85). First professor ofAccountancy at OU and tireless advocate for a range of publicinterests.

ACHIEVEMENTS

University zoologist Lloyd Spencer Davis’ book The Plightof the Penguin won the non-fiction category and was named bookof the year in the NZ Post Children’s Book Awards in March.Graduate Sandy McKay won the Junior Fiction Award at thesame awards for her book, Recycled.

OU graduate Farah Palmer captained the Black FernsRugby team to its second World Cup victory. Team memberswith Otago connections include Melodie Robinson,Annaleah Rush, Monalisa Codling and Hannah Myers.

Five Otago researchers were honoured for their services in theQueen’s Birthday and Golden Jubilee Honours list:

Professor Jim Mann of Human Nutrition and Medicine andDr Diana Hill of Biochemistry became Companions of theNew Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM), while Professor ErikOlssen of History, Dr Jean Fleming of Anatomy andStructural Biology, and Professor Anthony Reeve ofBiochemistry became Officers of the New Zealand Order ofMerit (ONZM). Also, OU Law graduate and HonoraryDoctorate recipient Judith Mayhew was made Dame Commander(DBE) in the English Queen’s Birthday honours list.

FELLOWSHIPS/SCHOLARSHIPS

Professor Gerald Tannock of the OU MicrobiologyDepartment was made a Fellow of the American Academy ofMicrobiology in recognition of his international standing anddistinguished scholarly achievement in this field.

Dr Peter Crampton, senior lecturer at the University ofOtago’s Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences,has won a prestigious Harkness Fellowship to undertake a JohnsHopkins University-based study exploring how best to provideessential primary health care services to low-income populations.

Biochemistry junior research fellow Kylie Drake has received$75,000 from BMW New Zealand Ltd, Cure Kids, and theLeukaemia and Blood Foundation towards PhD study into thegenetics of childhood leukaemia.

Foundation of Science Research and Technology Bright FutureEnterprise Scholarships have been awarded to Paula Brownfor PhD study in Geography, Amonida Zadissa for PhDstudy in Biochemistry and Suzanne Fillery for an Honoursproject in Food Science.

HONORARY DOCTORATES

The University conferred Honorary degrees on twodistinguished graduates: Allan Hubbard (HonLLD) and DrChristopher de Hamel (HonDLitt). Mr Hubbard wasrecognised for his business success and extensivephilanthropic works, while Dr de Hamel was acknowledgedfor his status as a widely published international authority onmedieval manuscripts and early printing.

GRANTS

As well as winning $16.58 million of the Health ResearchCouncil funding pool, OU researchers gained $11.24 millionin this year’s Foundation for Research Science and Technologyfunding round.

The University also received $3.6 million from the TertiaryEducation Strategic Change Fund to help fund IT developments,the new zoology building, a dental therapy programme and aMäori Affairs Adviser in the Vice-Chancellor’s office.

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LANDFALL ESSAY PRIZE WINNERS

The Landfall Essay Prize, judged by Margaret Mahy,was announced by her on National Radio in earlyMay. Sharing the prize was Otago graduate KapkaKassabova. Her essay, We too are Europe wasdescribed by judge Margaret Mahy as “factual,plain and yet poetic - arousing the sort ofimaginative responses most commonly touched onby poetry or fiction”. The $2500 prize was sharedwith Patrick Evans, of Canterbury University.

Lawrence Jones, Emeritus Professor of English,University of Otago, was among the finalists in thecompetition. His essay, The Mushroom Cloud, theLong White Cloud and the Cloud of Unknowing, isabout moving to Otago from America in the early1960s to escape the atom bomb, and then findinghis family facing a new threat on September 11.The winning essays and five finalists, as well asartwork by Richard Killeen and the usual sampleof current prose, poetry and reviews, are publishedin Landfall 203: Search, edited by Justin Paton(University of Otago Press, $24.95).

BOOKSWEALTH IN COLONIAL NEW ZEALAND

Also published in May was No Idle Rich: TheWealthy in Canterbury and Otago 1840–1914. Theauthor is Dr Jim McAloon, a PhD graduate inhistory from the University of Otago.

Otago and Canterbury were “lands of sheepand gold” where every kind of agent rapidlyprospered - bankers, merchants, clothingmanufacturers, importers, solicitors, brewers,millers and stevedores.

No Idle Rich is a major contribution to NewZealand historiography, contributing to ourunderstanding of the colonial economy, of theclass structure of colonial society, and of the valuesand perceptions of the rich. McAloon concludesthat the colonial wealthy of Canterbury and Otagowere emphatically not an idle rich, but athoroughly modern group, who lived by thecapitalist values of thrift, hard work andmoderation.

No Idle Rich: The Wealthy in Canterbury andOtago 1840–1914 by Jim McAloon (University ofOtago Press, $39.95).

RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS OF UNIVERSITY STAFF AND ALUMNI

Rewarding Service: A History of the GovernmentSuperannuation Fund, Neill Atkinson. University of OtagoPress, in association with the Ministry for Culture andHeritage, 2002.

The Life of Brian: Masculinities, Sexualities and Health in NewZealand, edited by Heather Worth, Anna Paris and LouisaAllen. University of Otago Press, 2002.

Clothing, Textiles and Human Performance, R.M. Laing andG.G. Sleivert. The Textile Institute (UK), 2002.

Life at the Limits: Organisms in Extreme Environments, DrDavid A. Wharton. Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Development of Movement Coordination in Children, edited byGeert Savelsbergh, Keith Davids, John van der Kamp, SimonBennett. Routledge, Taylor and Francis, 2002.

Interceptive Actions in Sport: Information and Movement,edited by Keith Davids, Geert Savelsbergh, Simon Bennett,John van der Kamp. Routledge, Taylor and Francis, 2002.

Mathematical Vistas: From a Room With Many Windows, PeterHilton, Derek Holton and Jean Pedersen. Springer-Verlag,New York, 2002.

Essentials of Human Nutrition (second edition), edited by JimMann and A. Stewart Truswell (Sydney). Oxford UniversityPress, Oxford, 2002.

The Biogeochemistry of Iron in the Ocean, K.A. Hunter andD.R. Turner. John Wiley and Sons, New York.

The Plight of the Penguin, Lloyd Spencer Davis. Longacre Press,2001.

Sport Stars: The Politics of Sporting Celebrity, D. Andrews andS. Jackson. Routledge Publishers, UK, 2001.

Female Brain, C. Darlington. Taylor & Francis.

My Father the All Black, Sandy McKay. Longacre Press, 2002.

Knowledge, Cause, and Abstract Objects: Causal Objections toPlatonism, Dr Colin Cheyne. Kluwer Academic Publishers,Dordrecht/Boston/London, 2001. (The Western Ontario Seriesin the Philosophy of Science, volume 67).

WRITTEN A BOOK LATELY?

If you are an alumni of the University and have recentlyproduced a book, tell us about it - mag.editor@otago.ac.nz

A team of University of Otago law students has shownthat it is possible to argue your way to success.

Five Otago students representing New Zealand wererecently placed third in the world at a highly prestigiousmooting competition, the Philip C Jessup International LawMoot Court.

The Jessup competition is held in Washington DC and isthe world’s largest, most prominent mooting competition.Participating students are required to analyse a legal problembased on a hypothetical international dispute and then presentarguments in front of a panel of judges.

This year’s competition was the largest ever, with 75 teamsrepresenting 62 countries taking part in the internationalrounds. Overall, 385 law schools and 1900 law studentsparticipated in the national, regional and international roundsof the competition.

The Otago team of Christopher Curran, Hamish Forsyth(oralists), Alexandra Smithyman, Reuven Young and PhillipaJones came third equal with the United States, represented byHarvard Law School. Together with the team from Harvard,the Otago team received the most awards in the 2002 Competition.

University of Otago international law specialist KevinDawkins, who coached the team, believes the key to success

MOOTERS DO OTAGO PROUD… AGAINwas a combination of team work and intensive preparation.According to team member Hamish Forsyth, taking part inthe competition gives students the analytical, critical and oralskills that will set them in good stead for a career in law.

As well as coming third overall, the team won secondprize in the Alona E. Evans Awards for the best set ofmemorials (written arguments) in the international roundsand first prize in the Richard R. Baxter Awards for the bestapplicant memorial throughout the entire competition. Teammember Christopher Curran, who was recently awarded aRhodes Scholarship, was also awarded a scholarship to attendGeorgetown University in Washington DC for being the bestnon-United States oralist presenting argument on a team withthe best written submissions in the international rounds.

The team’s success raised the profile of the University andthe Law Faculty internationally, says Faculty Dean, ProfessorMark Henaghan.

“It shows that our students are as good, if not better, thanany students anywhere in the world, including those at themost prestigious private universities. We are also veryfortunate to have teaching staff who do this work in their owntime, on top of all their other work.”

ALUMNICOURT OF CONVOCATION

Like many universities, the University ofOtago has a Court of Convocation. TheCourt as such never meets: its solepurpose is to elect three of its membersto the University Council. The OtagoCourt of Convocation consists of allthose who hold a degree from theUniversity of Otago, and Diplomateswho hold three-year Diplomas (theDiploma in Home Science, the Diplomain Physical Education and the Diplomain Land Surveying).

Elections to the Council by theCourt of Convocation are held everyfour years. Any member of Council iseligible for re-election, but not for morethan four consecutive terms of four years.

Elections are run under statutoryrequirements set down in the Electionof Members of the Council Statute1991. The requirements are published

in the University Calendar and on theUniversity’s website www.otago.ac.nz.

An election for three Court ofConvocation members on the Universityof Otago Council will be held inNovember this year. Nominations willbe sought in September and votingpapers will be sent out in early Octoberwith the third edition of the Universityof Otago Magazine.

ALUMNI REUNIONS

If you have been contemplating a classreunion, the Alumni and DevelopmentOffice can help. We organise mailings toclass lists, advise on other aspects(especially if they’re to be held inDunedin) and will happily publishadvance notices in the magazine or onthe website. For further information,contact Karin Warnaar, AlumniRelations Officer, tel 03 479 5649,

karin.warnaar@stonebow.otago.ac.nzOtago’s medical graduates have a

strong tradition of class reunions andthe School of Medicine has considerableexperience helping with such events. Ifyou are planning a reunion, pleasecontact Ellen Hendry at the Departmentof General Practice, tel 03 479 7430.Ellen can advise on class mailing listsand on access to Dunedin campusfacilities during reunions.

ST MARGARET’S COLLEGE

St Margaret’s College 1953-55 reunion,to be held September 2003.

If you'd like to know more about thisreunion, or could help us get in touchwith other former residents, pleasecontact St Margaret’s College, tel 03 4795543, st.margarets@otago.ac.nz or writeto Dr Dorothy Page, 51 MoanaCrescent, Dunedin.

ALUMNIALUMNI FUNCTIONS 2002

Melbourne: Thursday 1 August

Sydney: Friday 2 AugustPre-Bledisloe Cup Cocktail Reception

Kuching: Monday 5 August

Sibu: Tuesday 6 August

Kota Kinabalu: Thursday 8 August

Auckland: Thursday 29 August -Friday 30 August

Wellington: Thursday 5 September -Friday 6 September

Christchurch: Wednesday 18September

Sydney: Thursday 31 October

Further details for functions will bepublished on the alumni web pages asthey become available.

MELBOURNE FUNCTION18 April 2002

Around 150 guests attended the Vice-Chancellor’s cocktail reception foralumni held at the Grand HyattMelbourne.

The first University function inMelbourne for several years was verysuccessful, and the date for the next hasalready been fixed. During the evening,many alumni expressed an interest inregular contact with the University.Master of ceremonies Trevor Moyle(BCom, 1972) was delighted toannounce that a Melbourne alumnigroup will be established. A strongsteering committee has already beenformed to work on a programme forthe future.

The group will be formally launchedat a dinner on 1 August.

CHEMICAL BONDING

Information for students is only a partof the new-look web pages whichsupport Otago’s Department ofChemistry community at http://neon.otago.ac.nz/chemistry/chem.htm. Thatclassic chemical motif, the periodictable, provides easy navigation aroundstaff and research information.

The table’s ‘elements’ are links topages which also include social reportsand profiles of former chemistrystudents. “Al” links to an invitation toalumni to take part in an interactivenetwork to help keep everyone in touch.

Chemistry’s alumni co-ordinatorKate McGrath says the intention is tocreate an online community of thedepartment’s alumni and students. Sheencourages chemistry alumni to registeron the site.

ALUMNI BENEFITS

Otago alumni may continue to use theUniversity of Otago Libraryresources after leaving the University. Ifyou live in the greater Dunedin area,you may apply to the Lending ServicesLibrarian to become an approvedborrower. Visitors to the city arewelcome to use the resources in thelibrary, and some electronic services areavailable through the library web pages.Unfortunately, for copyright reasons,many databases are restricted to currentstudents and staff, and library servicesare not available by distance. Forfurther details on library regulationsrelating to alumni use, seewww.otago.ac.nz/alumni.

Visitors to the University are welcometo stay at the Executive Residence,which offers quality accommodation atcompetitive rates.

ALUMNIRESOURCES

Tel 64 3 479 9151 Fax 64 3 479 9180www.commerce.otago.ac.nz/execres/

Visitors to Dunedin are welcome at manyUniversity recreational facilities.The Unipol gymnasium is open tocasual users and Recreation Servicesruns a programme of leisure activitiesand hires out camping and sportingequipment.www.otago.ac.nz/recreationwww.unipol.co.nz

Alumni are welcome to visit theUniversity of Otago’s Auckland andWellington Centres. Facilitiesinclude extensive conference and multi-media facilities for hire, and a HumanPerformance Centre in Wellington.

KEEPING IN TOUCHFinding lost friendsIf you’d like to contact someone fromOtago you’ve lost touch with, theAlumni Office may be able to help you.

Under NZ privacy legislation, wecan’t give out addresses, but if we havecurrent information for the personyou’re looking for, we will pass on yourmessage and contact details.

You can submit your request via theweb at www.otago.ac.nz/alumni/keepintouch/findinglostalumni.html

Updating your addressPlease keep us informed of your currentaddress so we can be sure to includeyou in University alumni activities inyour area. Changing your contactdetails when you move is easy atwww.otago.ac.nz/alumni/keepintouch/changeofaddressform.html– send the link to your friends.

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