Interesting viewpoints here. A few thoughts in reading: While administrators and their readiness to fold at the first sign of struggle is perhaps a larger problem - especially when fellow tenured faculty target their peers - evidence in the journalistic ranks seems to kill off your conclusion that "wokeism does represent a few students' true ideals." Additionally, it's too facile an argument to claim your/our parents actions in the 70s represents an analogous and sympathetic situation. Finally - the battle of wokeism isn't among "elites". This completely misses the point. The illiberal left shooting down opposing viewpoints held by 50% of the country is an 'upper class' vs. 'lower class' dynamic. One side is fighting for liberty and viewpoint diversity - the other is fighting for conformity. It's not obvious from your post which side many of your 'quiet' colleagues would land on if forced to admit an opinion. I do sympathize with wanting to get through life unscathed. That's a driving factor for many of us.