Reds are disturbing folk at university (7)
I believe the answer is:
readers
'folk at university' is the definition.
(a reader is a type of academic)
'reds are disturbing' is the wordplay.
'disturbing' indicates anagramming the letters.
'reds'+'are'='redsare'
'redsare' anagrammed gives 'READERS'.
(Other definitions for readers that I've seen before include "Student textbooks" , "Senior lecturers" , "Checkers of proofs" , "Bookish people" , "Book users" .)