Is New Zealand truly a bilingual society which accepts Te Reo Maori as an official language?
Well, according to a comment made on communications student Imogen Wells' assignment, te reo should not be used "in formal correspondence" such as emails.
The issue arose when Ms Wells used the word "Morena" as a greeting in an email assignment for her public relations course at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT).
"We live in New Zealand, it's one of the recognised languages of New Zealand, you should not be referring to it as inappropriate and unprofessional," Ms Wells says.
"I was upset, especially with all the talk that's gone on about integrating te reo into primary school education as a requirement.
"It was just really disappointing."
AUT Head of Communications Alison Sykora said it was inappropriate an AUT staff member criticised email use of Te reo greetings.
The institution has since apologised to Ms Wells, and they say it won't happen again as they are dedicated to the development of the language.
"The greeting wasn't part… it didn't affect the overall mark, but there was a comment made about this," AUT Head of Communications Alison Sykora said.
"This was an isolated mistake and we have acknowledged the mistake, we've apologised to our student Imogen and corrected it."
And Ms Sykora believes there's a silver lining to the unfortunate event.
"It's certainly something that's going to be communicated it isn't acceptable, and we're going to be talking to our staff about it to make sure they understand."
Ms Wells says she'll continue using what little Te Reo Maori she has in her arsenal.
"Going forward it's made me want to use te reo more, and I feel comfortable knowing that AUT will now take the steps to ensure this does not happen to another student."
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