New Zealand's oldest university has found itself in a censorship stoush over the removal and destruction of a student magazine about menstruation.
Editors of the University of Otago's Critic magazine say they were left "disappointed and angry" when 500 copies of the long-standing student publication's were confiscated and binned by university staff this week without warning.
"It honestly felt like a kick to the guts," editor Joel MacManus said.
"We have the right to print provocative covers, and we so do because they start conversations."
The menstruation-themed issue's cover has been the sore point.
An image of the front cover. Source: Critic Magazine
It features a graphic, video game-themed, pixel illustration of a person laying on a bathroom floor menstruating.
"The university has no official view on the content of this week's magazine," a spokeswoman said in a statement.
"However, the university is aware that university staff members, and members of the public, have expressed an opinion that the cover of this issue was degrading to women."
Later, the school said the decision had been a misunderstanding, and that the proctor's office had unilaterally decided to remove the magazines after they were taken down from Dunedin Public Library and the Dunedin Public Hospital earlier in the week.
"This was a mistake and never intended as censorship."
But Mr MacManus said the initial response was just shifting blame and now 17 of the magazine's former editors have also written a letter expressing "deep concern" and calling for the university to "apologise unreservedly".
"It imposes the beliefs of a few onto the majority," they said.
The cover's artist, Saskia Rushton-Green, denies the image is degrading.
"In fact I hope some people find it empowering," she said.
"This image shows how people who bleed are pulling through with a smile and a thumbs up, even when they feel really gross."
And New Zealand's chief censor didn't seem too fazed either, in a statement saying the image was unlikely to meet the criteria for restrictions.
Critic's editors say the issue's theme was proposed by the university's women's-plus club, with all the content written by female or non-binary contributors.
