Is there a way to un-protect just them and still leave the rest of the sheet protected so the columns can just be expanded and contracted and not have to worry about someone messing up the formulas?
Protection is only applied to worksheet cells, ranges and objects when a sheet is marked as Protected. So go through the cells and columns in your case and mark them as unprotected.
Select the columns, Ctrl 1, Select the Protection Tab and un-tick Locked
Now lock the sheet, Goto the Review Tab, Protect Sheet