This was not a quiet campaign for Joshua Tandy, his rise to the top role in our SU has been hard to miss both on social media and across our campus. Tandy has made certain his name is recognised University wide and whatever your opinion on him, no one can deny that Joshua Tandy is a political force to be reckoned with in our student community. Tandy is recognised by all as one of the most defining student voices in Cardiff, known for his energetic campaigning and strong presence across the student body.
Tandy has rapidly become one of the loudest and most established voices for the Students’ Union, and it is impossible to diminish his powerful impact as such an active member of the student community. After a record shattering election campaign, Tandy will be your next SU President for Cardiff Student’s Union 26/27. As previously shared by Gair Rhydd, “Tandy secured 3,463 votes, emerging as the final winner after several candidates were eliminated and their votes redistributed” after “8,282 votes were cast in the presidential race” making Tandy the clear front runner of this election after a 27.7% voting turnout - one of the highest of any SU in the country.
Tandy is the current VP Heath Park for 25/26. The step to SU President will be Tandy’s second term as a Sabbatical Officer meaning after this there will be no other roles in his future on the team. Tandy has faced criticism and challenge but despite those barriers, he has delivered on every single manifesto point from his 25/26 role as VP Heath Park, suggesting him a possible beacon of hope for his residency as SU President, where he is determined to focus on engagement with the wider student community with a focus on Student Protection & Safety, Cost of Living & Wellbeing and a Student-Led University Experience.
With such ambition and visibility comes responsibility, a pressure and expectation to deliver. In my interview we discussed his journey this past year within student leadership, as we look ahead to next year to explore and understand what students should expect from his presidency. Could you tell the readers who you are, what you study and what your current role as a sabb officer is?
And maybe why you wanted to become SU President? “So I'm Joshua Tandy. I studied biomedical anatomy. Big up the School of Bioscience.
I'm currently the VP Heath Park, so I look after the Heath Park campus both in educational and all welfare matters... I won the election, which means I'm going to be the next SU president.” When asked why he ran for the role Tandy shared that: “The reason I ran for President, obviously, was because, you know, it was either that or VP undergraduate because they're most closely aligned to my kind of concern and kind of what I wanted to do for the university. And I think I really enjoyed a year as a VP but I really wanted to work on kind of the big issues and that kind of holistic sense of a university experience...
And so I felt that that step up, instead of kind of going to VP undergraduate, was more directly in tune with the experience that I already had, but also what I want to do... A new challenge.” Why do you think you stood out to students and why do you think you won over their vote? What was your selling point and what was the angle you took when trying to gain votes from such a diverse student population? “I mean, I love elections.
It's such a lovely time to see everyone so, kind of excited, enthralled, and honestly, just participating in democracy! It's really nice to see...But yeah, I think that for me, my angle was definitely, I do what I say I do... By the end of my term, I would have ticked off every single point, in some cases, above what I actually promised.” “And I think that that was the angle that I tried to portray to students.
I also am quite an avid user of social media, and I think that the way in which the students' union communicates to students. I want them to think, you know, we do job shop and student advice, and all of those different services, so that's the kind of angle that I came out with. The angle was more awareness for the union.” What are your most significant achievements as VP Heath Park? “I have roughly like 9 points for my original manifesto.
Some of them were harder than others. Some of them were running events and just bringing a bit of life back to the Heath. Some of them were more operational as it took a lot more, like, better food options, for instance.” “I think my biggest wins are probably the food options in the IV Cafe..
And then finally, one thing that I was really proud to do and I was kind of still doing is “Heath Park On Tour”. So, going away to, well, I've already been to Bangor and Wrexham.... I'm running free events for students to get out and about and so that was a really nice thing to do and every student I've interacted with said "you know that it's amazing and that they didn't know we do this, so that's something that I really want to continue.” You said in your campaign you were on track to fulfil all your manifesto points as VP Heath this year.
Have you achieved that and could you go into more detail onto how? After discussing all nine of Tandy’s manifesto points as VP Heath Park which can be found under the VP Heath Park section on the SU website Tandy said: “...And that means that everything within my manifesto promised is completed. So I made 9 points in my original manifesto.. and all 9 will be completed by June.” Tandy shared that he has faced criticism where students have asked was his manifesto “too easy” but in response Tandy shared that: “I would just like to kind of say that I personally don't think so.
I mean, I, you know, I obviously work nine to five and I'm contracted and paid for that time. But, you know, out of a choice of my own, I quite frequently am here till six or seven o'clock making sure that everything is kind of on track, because that takes a lot of work. Yeah, it wasn't.
It wasn't easy to do, but I I think I'm just fueled to do it because I just want the best for the student body... But this isn't a normal job, you know? It's a job that you can hold for 2 years, maximum of your entire life.
I think if you're gonna do it, you need to do it well, because there's only one of you, there's only one of you. And I think, yeah, you just really need to do it well. And so I'm really committing this year and I really committed this next year.
And honestly, if I'm not absolutely exhausted by the time I come to July 1st next year when I finish. I haven't done my job well.” to some as “Tik-Tok Tandy” his vision for his time as Union President go beyond the realm of social media, and reveal deeper ideas of how he plans to support Cardiff Students
At the AGM you argued for the removal of the VP Heath Park role. Was that a difficult decision? Could you explain to our readers what your move to SU Pres means for the VP Heath Park role as its subsequent changes that go along with that restructuring?
For context, the Heath Park Sabbatical role that Tandy has fulfilled this year is moving to two Heath Park students as co campaign officers. “We didn't do this because of any other reason, except that it was the student feedback that we received. The other reason was that we kept seeing the VP Heath role be either unfilled or filled by an un-Heath student. And I'll hold my hands up.
I'm not a Heath student. I worked extensively at a college level, so I had Heath experience, but I'm not by nature a Heath student. I'm in the Sir Martin Evans building as a Bioscience student and there was a new amendment added in and this year which meant that you have to be from the demographic. to run for the position that you're representing.” “...Obviously, they're really busy, and that's the reason that we decided to put two in, because if there's two, you can have, you know, broadly, the kind of same output, but especially for when, for instance, they're in clinical placement, there's more of a chance of one of them being here, always present, while the other one's away, and that sort of thing.
So that's the reason we decided to put two in as campaign officers and I think how it's gonna work, the new system.” Tandy further shared that: “It’s a students’ union, it should be run by students, for students. If we aren’t listening to student feedback, then what kind of SU are we? But also, that feedback was clearly proven positively, because we had four people run for that position.
So that just really was affirming that I made the right choice. People do want this to, yeah, make them campaign officers instead.” Is there anything this past year you feel you would’ve approached differently or changed if you were SU Pres? In essence, Tandy shared he felt a stronger social media presence would allow for better engagement and visibility for the Student’s Union beyond YOLO and the Taf confirming that communication, transparency and awareness will be heightened through a stronger social media presence from the Union and personal accounts too. “I think more of a general way I want to be and almost like remembered as an actual president, is hopefully just really transparent and frequent communication on accessible formats.
Because I think it's really important, in this day and age, that we are putting, you know, all of our own individual work, but also the work conferences, like motions that we're making, and that sort of thing, that we're putting them on the website, that we're putting blogs out about them, that we're putting reels out about them. And I think, you know, it's obvious to me that, like, since the use of my social media, you know, is really useful, because people see me, and they ask about my work, and they know about my work.” How will you foster relationships and work with some of the University’s top voices such as Wendy Larner? Do you have any plans in that regard? “I mean, I'm a scientist by trade.
I'm a very evidence-based kind of proposer, arguer, speaker, that sort of thing. I won't believe in something that I don't have evidence for. I think it also works both ways.
I think that if someone provides better evidence, like, you know, if I'm thinking one way and a student comes to me and they're like, Josh, I'm gonna tell you like, this is my personal experience, and here are the stats, like, I'm gonna listen, and I think, you know, that's always really important for me to have that trait” “I think when speaking to those those highlevel people, I'm not going to just say this is what students want, which I think quite often is an easy thing to fall back on because, you know, you're elected, you represent the students' union, as SU president and I think that you know, it's really easy to just go well this is what students want. But I constantly make sure that I go out, and I look at SSP minutes from my student reps. I make sure that I'm just constantly surrounding myself with a diversity of students to make sure that I know that it is right.
And if I'm going to say, Wendy Larner, we need to do this, we need to take this course of action or change priorities; I, for my own personal kind of moral standpoint, need to be able to back that up because otherwise, why am I saying it?” How do you intend to engage and work with Student Media? “I think that we should be utilising student media and I think that we should. Make sure that that is supported and everything just like all societies and clubs. And I think, obviously, you know, do this interview now, obviously I'm going to be really, like, compliant with, obviously, like, anything that they ask of me.
Like, they want interviews, I'm always gonna be happy for those. Or on a more organisational level I think it's really important that we're getting student media access to events, whether that be, you know, varsity, they should be able to do a story on varsity and just get the necessary arrangements in place to do that. You can't report on it if you're not there, you know what I mean?” “And I think that you should feel comfortable to be able to come to either me or, you know, kind of societies and communities, 'cause though you're not a society, I say you are very much a community of writers, and I think that that role now at more accurately describes and caters to you - I think you should feel comfortable going to what will be Manala next year and if you don't feel comfortable, then I'd really say raise it with me and let's start a conversation there.
Because like you say, student media, it is such an important part of the union.” In your campaign your three key manifesto points are ‘Student Protection & Safety’, ‘Cost of Living & Wellbeing’ and a ‘Student-Led University Experience’. How do you aim to achieve these? For context these three sections are part of nine key manifesto points which meet the needs of these three overarching ideas - all can be found via Tandy’s social media page tandy4president and will be made available on the SU site from July 1st for further information. 1.
Student protection Bill 2. Zero Tolerance of Sexual Violence 3. Cutting the Cost of Living 4.
Student First Spaces 5. Two Campuses, One Union 6. Students at the Centre 7.
Stronger Mental Health Support 8. Fair Parking for Students 9. Say It, Show It, Deliver It!
All of these areas hold a strong focus on welfare, affordability and transparency. Ensuring students have greater influence and understanding on their University, encouraging students to be using their voices. Whilst Tandy recognises the challenges ahead to deliver on all of these points, he aims to put “in major groundwork and room for this to have real impact in the future.” Finally, what legacy would you want to leave as Cardiff’s 26/27 SU President? “I want people to know more about the students' union, and I want students to interact with it in more than one way, you know?
If you go to YOLO, I at least want you to know that when you go, that same space that you're partying in is also used to hold events like the Wendy Town Hall.” “I think to any student, no matter the issue, you know, I've got a lovely...very efficient team of staff coming in. I think that I'm gonna work really great with them. And I think we're gonna work great as a team.
Email me and like I'll work with your VP society to tackle a society's issue. I'll work with your international students officer tackling international student issues. I'm always going to be an open ear and just really, I think, also just have a real emphasis on working with the team and that sort of thing.
I've noticed that a lot of people, especially in the election period, obviously use the president as the main point of contact, but all the sabbs do so much more work than I think most people realise!” Tandy’s final statement was: “I would just like to say a thank you to my campaign manager, Taylor, just because they're, I've been so fabulous, they have a 100% success rate with running campaigns. So they've never failed. I'm really lucky for my whole campaign team and to be in the position that I'm in.” “I just want to say a big thank you to the outgoing staff team for believing in me this year, and putting me forward, and giving me their endorsements, and everyone else who also gave me their endorsements.
I just want to say a big thank you. And I just really hope to make everyone proud.”