Craccum
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Craccum is the weekly magazine produced by the Auckland University Students' Association of the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The name originated from the scrambled acronym of "Auckland University College Men's Common Room Circular".
Others remember the acronym as standing for "Auckland University College Men's Common Room Committee".
Craccum is the largest student magazine in New Zealand, with a weekly distribution of 10,000 - 12,000 copies. It is anomalous as a publication due to the fact of it having annual student elections for the position of editor.
The magazine is infamous for its controversial content, with previous editors choosing to publish stories on "Suicide and how to do it"(2000), as well as recipes for illegal drugs and drug rape guides. One author, political activist Nicholas P Keesing, put Craccum on the international stage with two of these articles in 2002. Craccum is also a popular proving ground for New Zealand mainstream media, with many of its alumni moving on to publications such as The Listener, The New Zealand Herald and Metro magazine.
During the 1950s at least, editorial disputes led to the publication of a small number of rival versions of the paper under the title "Wreccum".
In more recent years Craccum has become a haven for fringe stories, reporting and discussing topics outside the eye of most mainstream media, and outside the scope of politically correct discourse, and the magazine has drawn criticism for allegedly being too biased toward the political left.
In 2005, the rights to the front cover of one issue of Craccum were auctioned on Trademe. Salient, the student magazine for Victoria University of Wellington, won the auction.
An 'unofficial official' online forum, the Craccum Forum, was also created in 2005 as a spin-off of the print magazine. In February 2006, this site was shut down and re-emerged as Lost Otter. Lost Otter is still affiliated with Craccum Magazine and has a close working relationship with the editors. The original Craccum forums were shut down after a member of the New Zealand Police force contacted AUSA and notified them of offensive and illegal content - ranging from a recipe for pure methamphetamine (or P) and a thread about how Russian women were evil and they should all get cancer and die. The forum was promptly closed, hence the operation of Lost Otter as the 'unofficial official' discussion forum.
Craccum is a member of the Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA).
[edit] Editors
The Craccum editor is elected annually on the same ballot as elections for the AUSA Portfolio positions. Voting takes place in the 5th week of the 2nd Semester, and only current association members are eligible to vote. The current editor is Daniel Sloan. Simon Coverdale, co-editor in 2007, claimed that Sloan was a fictitious person put forward for the position of editor by himself and co-editor Matthew Backhouse.[1]. The following week, Coverdale retracted his statement, explaining that it was a hoax, and Sloan does in fact exist.[2]
Former editors of Craccum are:
- 2007 - Simon Coverdale & Matthew Backhouse
- 2006 - Ryan Sproull
- 2005 - Alec Hutchinson and Stian Overdahl
- 2004 - Allan Swann and Hannah Jennings-Voykovich
- 2003 - Christopher Garland
- 2002 - Colin 'b.' Mitchell and Susan Edmunds
- 2001 - 'Dr' John Marshall
- 2000 - Ben Thomas and James Cardno
- 1999 - Gareth Elliot and Thomas Shadbolt
- 1998 - Alistair Bone
- 1997 - Martyn 'Bomber' Bradbury
- 1996 - Tim Mullins and Anton Pichler
- 1995 - Martyn 'Bomber' Bradbury and Stewart Gardiner
- 1994 - Penny Murray
- 1993 - Peter Malcouronne and Vangelis Vitalis
- 1992 - Jo Mackay
- 1991 - Jo Mackay
- 1990 - Steve Amanono and Sarah Murray
- 1989 - Aiden B. Howard and Michael Lamb
- 1988 - Miriam de Graaf, Carl Fagan, Simon Holroyd (a.k.a. 'Gort') and Wendy Lawson
- 1987 - Rachal Callender, Derek Craig, Kerry Hoole, Ewen Smith, Pat Stodart, Vicki Turner and David 'George' Ward
- 1986 - Peter Boys
- 1985 - Pam Goode and Brigitta Noble
- 1984 - Neil Morrison and Rangi Chadwick
- 1983 - Louse Rafkin
- 1982 - David Faulls
- 1981 - David Kirkpatrick
- 1980 - Katherine White
- 1979 - David Merritt
- 1978 - Louse Chunn
- 1977 - Francis Stark
- 1976 - Allan Bell
- 1975 - Mike Rann
- 1974 - Brent Lewis
- 1973 - Bob Hillier
- 1972 - Heather McInnes, Tim Shadbolt and Gordon Clifton
- 1971 - Stephen Chan
- 1970 - Ted Sheehan
- 1969 - Mac Price
- 1968 - George de Bres
- 1967 - Geoff Chapelle (to June); George De Bres and Michael Volkering
- 1966 - Lei Lealulu and Dave Fleming (to June); Mike Morrisey
- 1965 - C. A. Moir
- 1964 - John Sanders
- 1963 - Dick Johnstone
- 1962 - Francis J. Lillie
- 1961 - Adrienee Rhones
- 1960 - Felicity Maidment
- 1959 - Jonathan Hunt
- 1958 - S. E. Cox and D. R. Taylor
- 1957 - R. W. Armstrong
- 1956 - D. J. Stone and R. W. Armstrong
- 1955 - Jim Traue and David Stone
- 1953 - Brian Smart and Peter Boag
- 1952 - Gerald Utting (to August); John Anderson and Geoff Fuller
- 1951 - NO RECORD
- 1950 - Peter Timm, David Grace and Roderick Smith (to March); Gerald Utting and M. Lovegrove
- 1949 - Peter Cape
- 1948 - John Ellis (to September); Peter Cape
- 1947 - Nora Bayly
- 1946 - J. A. Nathan
- 1945 - R. I. F. Pattison
- 1944 - Travis Wilson
- 1943 - Betty Belshaw (nee Sweetman)
- 1942 - NO RECORD
- 1941 - G. I. Cawkwell
- 1940 - P. W. Day
- 1939 - P. W. Day (to March), Avenal Holcombe
- 1938 - A. O. Woodhouse
- 1937 - Eric H. Halstear
- 1933-1936 - NO RECORD
- 1932 - J. A. E. Mulgan
- 1931 - Eric Harold Blow
- 1930 - P. L. Soljak; J. A. E. Mulgan (June-August)
- 1928-1929 - NO RECORD
- 1927 A. K. Matthews, Nigels Wilson and Winifred McNickle
