When I last wrote to you, Gair Rhydd was restablishing itself on campus as the place for the issues you care about.
Since then, it has been great to get emails and messages from so many students who are passionate about being part of Cardiff’s Free Word, and I want to especially welcome the new members of the editorial team and our new Staff Writers.
On the front page of this edition, you may have been grabbed by the feature piece which unveils how the University has been failing its staff in almost every imaginable way over the last few years. Equally, you may have been caught by the anonymous article written in the Opinion section on sexual violence. Whatever the reason you are reading this Gair Rhydd, I thought it would be worth explaining the choices of focus.
Thanks to the work of the Politics team in our last edition, many staff members across the University have since gotten in touch with Gair Rhydd to talk about the frustrations and injustices they have been subjected to. Being the space for accountability that Gair Rhydd is means connecting students and staff on the issues that matter, and that is why we think, no matter what you study, you ought to read Ruby’s feature piece.
With a both a regional and global focus on sexual violence as a result of current news items, we had a few writers across various sections speaking honestly about sexual violence and related topics in the last edition. As a consequence, an anonymous student reached out to Gair Rhydd wanting to give their deeply personal account of the topic. While some may find it a hard read, and those who have been a victim should be aware that it may be upsetting to read, it is important that students do read it.
At the start of this year, Gair Rhydd pledged to make sexual violence on campus a priority focus in our coverage, and this is us staying true to that. If you, like this anonymous Gair Rhydder, want to speak out about something but feel nervous to do so with your own name, get in touch, we will always ensure complete anonymity with sensitive topics.
We have also had our first podcast episode from the Sports team - their monthly University sport round-up - which you can listen to on Llais Rhydd, and read about in the Sports section of this edition. The Politics team also sat down for an in-depth, hour long conversation with your Students’ Union President, Joshua Tandy which gets into all the topical issues on campus. To listen in, go to Llais Rhydd on Spotify, and to read Oskar and Alex’s reflections on the interview, head to the Politics section.
The last thing I want to say is, once again, get involved! It’s been great to see so many passionate students contributing, but there is always room for more. Particularly, if you want to be part of Gair Rhydd’s News team, are an illustrator who wants to see their work in the paper, or someone with videographer experience, email editor@gairrhydd.com, or message us on Instagram: we want you!