This has been my experience working alongside University administrators. A sizeable chunk of them (I wouldn't say a clear majority, but in no way a small minority) are exactly the kinds of people who participate in these mobs, and are perfectly happy to use small spats and uproars on Twitter as political cover to legitimize their internal activism.

The people buckling out of fear are less worried about the consequences of upsetting faceless Twitter users than they are about upsetting a semi-organized and ideologically motivated fifth-column within their own organizations.