It's ancient history now, but for a period of time, Milo Yiannopoulos was *the* campus free speech martyr. He would get speaking gigs on campus, at which he would name trans students in order to direct harassment at them. People would protest the use of university resources for this activity, and all of the centrist dipshists would write ten thousand words about the evils of the "heckler's veto" and the impending fall of civilization due to campus snowflakes.
We are all more likely to find common cause and express solidarity with people we identify with. There were plenty of free speech/academic freedom (not the same thing) causes then, and even more now. They identified with Milo.
And when Milo's star fell, they had to continue his cause of terrorizing trans people.