Kia ora

We acknowledge receipt of your Official Information Act request.

If we have any questions or need to seek clarification on any points we will be in touch soon. Otherwise, we will seek to respond to your request as soon as practicable and no later than 20 working days after the date your request was received (by 4 May 2022). If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of this timeframe.

Ngā mihi
Kelsey

Kelsey Kennard
Official Information and Compliance Coordinator

Office of the Registrar | Te Tari o Te Pouroki me te Kaituhi ki te Kaunihera
University of Otago | Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo
New Zealand | Aotearoa
Email | Īmera [University of Otago request email]

show quoted sections

Kia ora

 

I refer to your Official Information Act (the Act) request dated 2 April
2022. You have requested information regarding the University’s
relationship with Tracey Crampton Smith as a Pagan chaplain.

 

The Act requires that we advise you of our decision on your request no
later than 20 working days after the date we received your request.
Unfortunately it will not be possible to meet that time limit. We are
therefore writing to notify you, pursuant to section 15A of the Act, of a
short extension of time to make our decision in respect of your request,
by a further two working days – to Friday 6 May 2022.

 

This extension is necessary to allow for consultations necessary to make a
decision on your request. We apologise for the delay and thank you for
your patience. We will provide the information sooner if possible.

 

If you are not satisfied with our extension of time, you have the right to
make a complaint to the Ombudsman under section 28(3) of the Act. However,
we would welcome the opportunity to discuss any concerns with you first.

 

Ngâ mihi

Kelsey

 

Kelsey Kennard

Official Information and Compliance Coordinator

 

Office of the Registrar | Te Tari o Te Pouroki me te Kaituhi ki te
Kaunihera

University of Otago | Te Whare Wânanga o Otâgo

New Zealand | Aotearoa

Email | Îmera [1][University of Otago request email]

 

 

show quoted sections

Kia ora

 

Thank you for your patience. I refer to your information request made
under the Official Information Act 1982 dated 2 April 2022.

 

Please see our responses to each of your questions below.

 

Does a relationship still exist between the University and Tracey Crampton
Smith and her Pagan chaplaincy?

 

We note that there was never an agreement or relationship between the
University and Tracey Crampton Smith in relation to her acting as Pagan
chaplain on campus.

 

Effectively, there has not been a Pagan chaplain at the University, and so
the position has been neither established nor disestablished. We
understand any reference to being a Pagan chaplain to be independent of
the University and its processes, and Ms Crampton Smith has no formal
connection to the University in this role, nor has the University entered
into agreements with her about acting as pagan chaplain on campus. Having
consulted our sources, we believe Ms Crampton Smith may have accessed
facilities on occasion alongside a student or students (i.e. on the basis
of student access), but there was no formal facility sharing arrangement
which could have a start or end point.

 

If not, why did the relationship end?

 

As noted above, there was never an agreement or relationship between the
University and Ms Crampton Smith in relation to her acting as Pagan
chaplain on campus.

 

If Tracey Crampton Smith is still affiliated with the University in her
role as a Pagan chaplain, has there been any internal communications about
her role in organising anti-Covid-19 health regulation protests, and/or
her transphobic posts on social media?

 

As noted above, there was never an agreement or relationship between the
University and Ms Crampton Smith in relation to her acting as Pagan
chaplain on campus, therefore Ms Crampton Smith is not (and never was)
directly affiliated with the University in a role as Pagan chaplain.

 

In case it is helpful, we have also looked into the reference of Ms
Crampton Smith being listed on the University website. Previously the
Chaplaincy page contained an extensive list of (external)
“Religious/spiritual contacts and worship centres in Dunedin” and it
appears Ms Crampton Smith was added to this page as Pagan contact from
around 7 June 2017 (see the archived page from that date on the internet
‘Wayback Machine’ at
[1]https://web.archive.org/web/201706070739...
- the previous ‘capture’, from May 2016, does not include her). Her
contact remained on this webpage until that page was removed from the
Chaplaincy website as part of a redesign of that website in April 2021,
which sought to make the website more succinct. This web page did not
refer to Ms Crampton Smith as a Pagan chaplain in any way, and did not
imply anything more than her being an external contact person.

 

Ngâ mihi

Kelsey

 

Kelsey Kennard

Official Information and Compliance Coordinator

 

Office of the Registrar | Te Tari o Te Pouroki me te Kaituhi ki te
Kaunihera

University of Otago | Te Whare Wânanga o Otâgo

New Zealand | Aotearoa

Email | Îmera [2][University of Otago request email]

 

 

From: UoO - Official Information Act
Sent: Wednesday, 4 May 2022 4:57 pm
To: 'A. W. Farmer' <[FOI #19038 email]>
Subject: RE: Official Information request - Pagan Chaplaincy

 

Kia ora

 

I refer to your Official Information Act (the Act) request dated 2 April
2022. You have requested information regarding the University’s
relationship with Tracey Crampton Smith as a Pagan chaplain.

 

The Act requires that we advise you of our decision on your request no
later than 20 working days after the date we received your request.
Unfortunately it will not be possible to meet that time limit. We are
therefore writing to notify you, pursuant to section 15A of the Act, of a
short extension of time to make our decision in respect of your request,
by a further two working days – to Friday 6 May 2022.

 

This extension is necessary to allow for consultations necessary to make a
decision on your request. We apologise for the delay and thank you for
your patience. We will provide the information sooner if possible.

 

If you are not satisfied with our extension of time, you have the right to
make a complaint to the Ombudsman under section 28(3) of the Act. However,
we would welcome the opportunity to discuss any concerns with you first.

 

Ngâ mihi

Kelsey

 

Kelsey Kennard

Official Information and Compliance Coordinator

 

Office of the Registrar | Te Tari o Te Pouroki me te Kaituhi ki te
Kaunihera

University of Otago | Te Whare Wânanga o Otâgo

New Zealand | Aotearoa

Email | Îmera [3][University of Otago request email]

 

 

show quoted sections