‘Best Rack’ uni awards slammed

Students at the University of Otago’s Selwyn College secretly voted on and publicly awarded a prize for the firstyear female with the “Best Rack”, among other derogatory awards.

Monica Nelson, who was given the award by students at the halls of residence in 2014, described it as “sexist and bullying”.

The tradition was part of the Selwyn College Students’ Association AGM, where the governing committee of elected second-year students would award a number of nicknames to first-year students. Among the traditional nicknames were “Black Rabbit”, “Burgundy Lemur” and “Animal Channel”.

Students would be called up in front of the college and awarded their name. They were not told what the name meant or why they had been given it until after the event, the university’s student magazine Critic reports.

The names were codes. Black Rabbit meant ‘Best Rack’, Burgundy Lemur meant ‘Blowjob Lips’ and Animal Channel meant ‘Awkward Chat’.

Critic has been able to verify that the tradition has happened every year going back until at least 2012.

Nelson said she didn’t dwell on her award at the time, but she did find it “pretty disconcerting to know that there was a roomful of second years objectifying and labelling us, largely on appearances. What’s more, the second years know that the practice is discriminatory, so they use code words for our labels. You get stood up, and potentially shamed, in front of your entire hall and you don’t even know why . . . It’s a totally unnecessary, disingenuous, and generally unkind practice.”

One student, who was given the ‘Animal Channel’ award several years ago said “I thought it was really cool at the time, I didn’t realise until later that they were making fun of me.” Another ex-student described the award as “straight up bullying”.

A spokeswoman for Otago University said the university was working with the Selwyn Student Association committee to ensure no inappropriate traditions were continued. The current student president was supportive of this, she said.

“We want the best for the former residents who have come forward and sincerely hope that they contact us to discuss their concerns.”