Cardiff Students’ Union appoints first full-time Welsh Officer

Cardiff Students’ Union has appointed its first full-time Welsh Language, Community & Culture Officer during this year’s spring elections.

The annual election took place this month and 40 candidates put forward manifestos that contained the ideas and principles of their campaigns.

There were seven positions for full-time sabbatical officers up for grabs, with the introduction of a Welsh Language, Community & Culture role as a full-time role for the first time in Cardiff Students’ Union’s history.

Deio Owen received the majority vote and was part of the student group that lobbied for the VP Welsh Language, Community and Culture position to become available in the first place.

Bilingual website

His manifesto included promises of representing all Welsh students, securing Welsh opportunities, working with other Students’ Unions, giving every student a Welsh welcome, and working towards a bilingual website for the SU.

Deio said: “It has been a long journey to reach this point and get a full-time position for Welsh language representation, and I am extremely grateful for the work done by students before me.

“To be able to hold this role for the first time is a privilege and gives me the chance to set out how this role will work and develop over time.

“This also helps us show that Cardiff is not just a University in Wales, but a Welsh University.

“This is the start of an exciting chapter here in Cardiff and I look forward to see what is to come in the future, near and far.”

Sabbatical Officers play a huge role within Cardiff Students’ Union, and with the support of the Campaign Officers, are the voice of students, being as representative as they possibly can.

Across five days of voting, 7,507 students cast their votes on each of the officer roles, accumulating over 102,000 votes.