Leftists would back down more often if they were challenged more often.
Remind them that you resent their attempts to assert colonialist hegemony over your self-actualization, that the soft bigotry of their close-mindedness and failure to keep an open mind for divergent viewpoints reveals their classically crypto-fascist, proto-modern mindset regarding the malleability not just of words, but also of ideas and concepts. Then tell them that it is a micro aggression if they fail to attempt to communicate with you through the post-modern language generator available on the internet.
Leftist are in charge and all powerful on campus. Most comport themselves discretely, even though they support the narrative.
Thank God for engineering and physical sciences professors! They are not political.