An academic who led a government review on sex and gender data collection has threatened legal action and asked the Office for Students to intervene after a talk at the University of Bristol was disrupted by protesters. Professor Alice Sullivan alleges the university failed to safeguard free expression and that some attendees felt intimidated away from the event. The university says the lecture proceeded safely despite "unacceptable disruption." The dispute comes as England’s new higher education freedom of speech law increases universities’ legal duties to protect invited speakers, while balancing student protest rights; similar episodes have prompted complaints and potential litigation across the sector.