"I guess the reluctance of progressive liberals to seriously deal with CRT is because they feel conflicted."

Not at all. CRT is essentially a means of interrogating claims about law/justice. Progressive liberals are very comfortable with criticism because skepticism about the status quo is an essential element of progress (it's also an essential element in every entreprenuerial and technological innovation, and many artistic movements).

Progressives focus on academic freedom because accepting the frame proposed by regressives shifts the burden of proof. One should ALWAYS favor criticism, skepticism, and careful investigation/interrogation of data. Real conservatives have no problem with that either - the issue is dogmatic populists. But to assert that CRT is harmful to Western civilization is to claim that asking questions and challenging assumptions is harmful: what else was Western civilization built upon if not questioning/challenging assumptions?