The contested territory between such feminist groups and trans activists is well documented. The core issue of sex, gender and gender self-identification has developed into arguments about practical matters, including all-women safe spaces. 

As well as Rowling, others caught up in the row include MP Rosie Duffield (who stayed away from last year’s Labour Party Conference after being threatened) and academics Kathleen Stock at Sussex University and Jo Phoenix at Open University who have both left their posts following campaigns by trans activists.

Having failed to stop the meeting from going ahead, trans protestors began to target Rosario Sanchez on campus. She will tell the court about repeated threats of violence, intimidation, and being greeted by a chorus of “scum, scum, scum”.  

Such a hostile environment means that she rarely goes into the university any more, and only when accompanied by friends, because she fears for her safety. But she is reluctant to be drawn on the impact. 

“I don’t like to dwell on how difficult it has been for me because that is exactly what a bully wants to hear. So I try to remain level and measured,” she says.

How far the university that welcomed her as an overseas student (Rosario Sanchez is from the Dominican Republic) has failed to protect her is what will be examined in the Bristol court, where – in a case paid for by a crowdfunding campaign via her supporters – she will accuse it of sex discrimination, negligence, victimisation, harassment and breach of contract.  

In 2018, she filed a complaint with the university about her treatment. A disciplinary hearing was begun in June 2019 but, when the activists whom she alleges intimidated her appeared, their supporters, some wearing balaclavas, disrupted proceedings. The university ended the hearing on security grounds.

“They washed their hands of what had happened,” says Rosario Sanchez. “It sent out the message that the bullying and harassment of me is OK.”

The university contests this. “All concerns about harassment or bullying are taken seriously and action taken in accordance with our policies,” it said in a statement. “We are committed to making our university a place where all feel safe, welcomed and respected, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, disability or social background.”

That doesn’t cut any ice with Rosario Sanchez. “They were cowardly. They made my allegations go away by not investigating them properly. It came across like they were scared of trans activists.” 

Was she ever tempted to keep quiet for an easier life? 

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” she responds. “I decided to chair a public meeting about women’s rights. It is lawful for women to have meetings, freedom of speech, freedom of association.”

There is, she adds, a bigger point. “I feel adamant that the public must be made aware that this is how academic institutions are treating feminist students when nobody is watching.”