University of Otago students claim they were told to strip, called ‘piggies’ during initiations

Allegations of horrific initiations at Dunedin student flats have continued to come to light after two students claimed they were told to strip to their underwear and were called “piggies”.

The two female University of Otago students said the experience was one they would “never subject a fellow girl to”.

The claims follow recent exposure of hazing rituals carried out at student flats, including the alleged mistreatment of live ducks and eels.

According to the Otago Daily Times, when the two women arrived at the flat they are renting next year they were asked by a group of second-year students to strip to their underwear and stand in the centre of the room while 30 men and women watched on.

The newspaper reports that the second-years used marker pens to circle parts of the young women’s bodies deemed to be “fat”, and called them “the piggies” during the evening.

The two female students said the experience was one they would 'never subject a fellow girl to'.

One of the women told the Otago Daily Times that while it was not the most creative flat initiation they had heard of, it was “really effective” in humiliating them.

Police and the university said they were yet to receive direct evidence of the incident, but police urged anyone with information to come forward.

Student magazine Critic Te Ārohi this week reported on other incidents, including a group of women who were made to chain smoke inside wheelie bins, which then filled with carbon monoxide, causing one of them to pass out.

Bede Crestani, the father of Sophia Crestani who died at a flat party in Dunedin four years ago, told the Otago Daily Times that hearing about the initiation behaviour was “just gut-wrenching”.

The claims follow recent exposure of hazing rituals carried out at student flats in recent years, including the mistreatment of live ducks and eels. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Earlier this month, claims emerged of students allegedly being forced to bite the legs off of a live duck as part of a “sick and twisted” flat initiation, along with binge drinking games that involved eating their own vomit.

University of Otago Students’ Association president Quintin Jane earlier told RNZ the initiation events are sometimes inflicted on students wanting to secure spots in flats for the following academic year and are designed to embarrass the students in front of onlookers.

Critic Te Ārohi also claimed a recent flat initiation involved four male students standing in their underwear and hoisting a panicked eel above their heads like a trophy, while crowds of onlookers cheered.

A witness told the magazine: “I was like, ‘What the f*** is this? Then I saw the eel. I saw people gagging, and there were a few girls on the balcony crying. It was the most traumatic initiation I’ve ever witnessed.”