On the flip side, most people who are part of the WLM movement, probably don't care about college students calling them out.

I think the goal should be for people on/near the fence should to be forced to confront implications of what they're considering supporting and to make it more difficult for those who have already decided to support WLM to organize. I think a unified protest will do that better than a gathering elsewhere.

but when they hold these events, what they want is attention, coverage, and a reaction, whether it's for or against them. When they hold a protest and they get counter-protested, the news shows up, interviews them and now they have an even larger audience and a clip or a link they can put on the internet that gives them the veneer of legitimacy.

I think that if someone sees a bunch of white nationalists and a bunch of protesters and decides the nationalists look like the less reprehensible side, they weren't ever on the protesters's side anyway. With the internet, their message will get out one way or another. I think it's important for everyone to see that racists will be challenged and stood up to, not ignored with the hope that they'll wither away.

On the other hand, the protesters also get attention and they can send the message to people who are sympathetic to them that they too can stand up to racists and will be supported. Unity and solidarity are incredibly important messages to get out.

don't give them the attention they need to thrive beyond the pathetic trolls that they are.

It's dangerous to treat them as a joke and there is no harm in treating them like a threat. Stop them, together, now and don't worry about whether they're actually just trolls. The cost of mislabeling them as just trolls is incredibly high for many people.