Recently, I had the exciting opportunity to interview Emily Carr and Becca Rumsey, the two co-founders of Time to Act, a student-led campaign focused on supporting Cardiff students, and people within the wider community in relation to sexual misconduct, violence, and assault. We discussed their success in 2025, the impact of their recent virality, and their more hands-on plans for 2026; as well as how these two women came to found the campaign and the effects of doing so.

Starting by reflecting on the past, we discussed the highs and lows of 2025.

The “Don’t be a Sh*tty Committee” movement generated a great deal of online attention for the campaign, especially at the University, as countless societies pledged to align with the values of Time to Act. However, Emily reflected that while “the virality was great, we do not want the impact of Time to Act to be in name only, but to make changes.”

This movement saw a high level of commitment from students and an agreement that change needs to happen and student safety needs to be considered more.

We also discussed their almost unanimous success at the AGM, once again proving that students want change on campus.

The discussion moved onto their efforts with the Student Union, and the work they have done together.

Emily described how the Students’ Union President reached out to them, and how the collaboration has been “fantastic,” with the SU tackling issues “proactively,” especially regarding policy and consent talks, as well as transparency.

2025 saw an apology issued from the Student’s Union - one of the first ever from a students union regarding the topic of widespread sexual misconduct - with our SU undertaking far more collaborative work than many universities across the UK.

This came hand-in-hand with other successes of 2025, such as the ‘Reclaim the Night’ movement, a focus on student safety on SU nights, and increased transparency, including more resources regarding protection and prevention.

Outside of work with the university, they also spoke about their policy brief to Parliament regarding duty of care, as well as the movements focus on community projects outside of sexual violence, including using their platform to root themselves within our local community to have a positive impact more broadly.

Another matter was the controversially received implementation of consent and bystander training courses for students.

We discussed how in order for these they need to be done right, at the beginning of the academic year - not midway through- and especially with first-year students.

“Whilst what has been done so far is a good start, as it normalises the conversation and provides resources, this type of conversation needs to be done right.”

This includes the training delivered in person, where students engage and learn from their peers.

The recent work in the Politics department demonstrated this best: rather then a lecture on rape culture, students had an open and honest conversation regarding sexual health, respect, and consent with their peers.

The first topic Time to Act discussed in 2026 was the scheduling of a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor and President of Cardiff University, Wendy Larner. This follows a long gap of more than two years since the previous meeting.

When I asked why this was the case, I was told that since the virality of the BBC article published in 2023, the “pressure to meet with us has disappeared. University officials have presented an unwillingness to address the issue, and to help create meaningful change for the students they are supposed to support.”

Becca and Emily agreed that they did not “envy Larner’s position” describing it as a “can of worms” the university is unwilling to deal with.

However, with the historical issue of violence against students on SU nights, the lack of response creates a “bad message for victims.”

The university “proves a complete and total disregard for the community at large,” and the lack of transparency is “alarming” as the university once again proves that issues are only a priority when it has financial consequences.”

2026 is a year full of potential for Time to Act.

From plans for further collaboration with the Students’ Union to a joint fundraiser with the Red Cross and Rape Crisis (8th March at Fuel) the campaigns focus on helping students here at Cardiff continues.

However, after the success of 2025 proved that students are not just ready for change, but actively want it, the focus has broadened to bigger things.

Work with the University of Wales to replicate structures working here at Cardiff, collaboration with local community centres to introduce sexual education programs as well as a partnership with a national human rights group to push for further investigative reporting regarding Cardiff University’s statistics mean Time to Act is becoming firmly rooted within the city’s community.

Be that as it may, sexual violence is not an issue exclusive to Cardiff University, but one present across higher education as institutions too often appear to value financial interest above student welfare.

This has led Time to Act to team up with similar campaigns at Durham and Edinburgh Universities in hopes other universities will follow, as well as to lobby the Welsh Government to implement duty of care for Universities to follow.

They extend any other universities interest to reach out to help them organise their own advocacy groups.

With legislation and policy a large focus of the upcoming year, including pushing for public data regarding sexual misconduct to be made public, and for honesty and transparency to become common practice, these determined women have an industrious task ahead of them.

To conclude the interview, I asked Becca and Emily what they want students to know about Time to Act and how they can show support.

“We are flexible, able to roll with the punches, and committed to being advocates for our community, offering support for anyone who needs it, including absolute privacy for those who seek help. We are two people who never wanted to be in this position, but wish to be the support we ourselves needed during our undergraduate years, which is why our work is so important.

We do not do this for online recognition, but to help those who need it. Our end goal is that Time to Act does not need to exist.”