'The first step in a very long road' - creating a safer student culture after Sophia Crestani's death

• University of Otago student Sophia Crestani died at an overcrowded Dunedin party in October 2019 and an inquest into her death was held in May.
• Coroner Heather McKenzie gave her findings in person in Dunedin this week, saying her death was a tragic, but likely preventable accident.
• Sophia Crestani's dad wants to see a shift in student culture away from overcrowded parties, excessive drinking and drugs, anti social and risky behaviour.
• Student-led groups hope that the inquest will encourage more progress and conversations to help keep students safer

A coroner's finding that Sophia Crestani's death in an overcrowded Dunedin party was likely preventable has prompted a call to action to improve the city's student culture.

The University of Otago student died at a party hosted in a flat known as The Manor in October 2019, with Coroner Heather McKenzie finding she died from crush asphyxia when pressure on her chest prevented her from breathing normally.

Maggot Fest seemed like an typical large North Dunedin student party, until about 11pm when the stairs had become very crowded, she said.

People started falling down the staircase, landing in a mass of tangled bodies, with one party-goer telling a 111 operator that people were going to die.

But she said there was at least a half an hour window before Sophia Crestani died when someone could have acted.

"If the tenants as hosts had taken active oversight of their party, it might not have grown to the size it did and the critical situation on the stairs might not have developed," she said.

Her recommendations included students leaving parties or calling an authority if they did not feel safe, students taking active steps to be responsible party hosts, the university considering its approach to disciplining students after large events that breach its Code of Conduct, and the Good One website removing advice to lock bedroom doors before hosting a party.

Sophia's dad Bede Crestani said the findings were welcome, but devastating.

"It's terrible. There's a half an hour that could have saved a life. There's nothing that can take that pain away. We can't bring her back... so we hope that there's real lessons that are learnt from that that are really practical things," he said.

Bede Crestani hoped Sophia's legacy would help to protect others from harm and wanted to see a shift in student culture away from overcrowded parties, excessive drinking and drugs, and anti social and risky behaviour.

He wants to see more progress to improve the lives of the North Dunedin student community.

Her mum Elspeth McMillan said the inquest was over, but the work in their daughter's name was not.

"We can not stop having to live over and over again the circumstances of Sophia's death and start to just remember the good times we had with her," she said.

The Sophia Charter was created in the wake of her death to enhance safety and well-being of students living in North Dunedin with multiple agencies pledging their support.

"We're really pleased with what we've seen to date. There's been some tangible actions and we're hearing of improvements in the culture so that's really reassuring. But there is more to do for sure," McMillan said.

Student-led Hold On To Your Friends co-founder Louisa hoped the inquest would encourage more progress.

"I feel like it's well and truly set the stage for future dialogue. I think it is definitely just the first step in a very long road, which is towards creating a safer student culture," Louisa said.

"It's not going to happen overnight and it's not going to happen easily. It requires cooperation of all of the stakeholders."

The problems with North Dunedin's student culture might be more widespread, she said.

"You don't hear about the close calls and whatnot because they're close calls, nothing comes of them. I think the challenge is definitely communicating to students in a way that gets through to them because coming from authority figures like the university ... sometimes just doesn't get through, because they're just like 'aw, they're trying to shut me down' or 'this is lame'.

"So it's really trying to tap into how do we get students to recognise that this isn't okay."

They needed to engage with students, she said.

"It is just about nudging people, letting them know that this isn't okay and also making them aware of the harms because they just don't think it's going to happen to them. But it can happen and it has happened and it will happen again."

Students For Sensible Drug Policy president Max Phillips said they needed to have more honest conversations about the student culture.

"The key things that Bede and Elspeth have communicated to us is that it's taken a long time to get here and that they want to see progress a lot quicker because it needs to happen a lot quicker because people are still getting hurt," he said.

Students needed to be part of the conversation for change, he said.