Bret Weinstein

Bret Samuel Weinstein (born 21 February 1969) is an American evolutionary biologist who came to national attention during the 2017 Evergreen State College protests. He is among the people referred to collectively as the "intellectual dark web".
Education.
Weinstein began his undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania. As a freshman, he wrote a letter to the school newspaper that condemned sexual harassment of strippers at a Zeta Beta Tau fraternity party. After experiencing harassment for the letter, he transferred to the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he completed his undergraduate degree in 1993. Weinstein received a doctorate from the University of Michigan in 2009.
Career.
Until 2017, Weinstein was a professor of biology at Evergreen State College in Washington State. In 2002, he published "The Reserve-Capacity Hypothesis", which proposed that the telomeric differences between humans and laboratory mice have led scientists to underestimate the risks that new drugs pose to humans in the form of heart disease, liver dysfunction, and related organ failure.
Evergreen State College Day of Absence.
In March 2017, Weinstein wrote a letter to Evergreen faculty in which he objected to a change in the college's decades-old tradition of observing a "Day of Absence", during which ethnic minority students and faculty would voluntarily stay away from campus to highlight their contributions to the college. The change to the event asked white participants to stay off campus, to attend a program on race issues, while the on-campus program was designated for people of color. Weinstein wrote that the change established a dangerous precedent:
The event organizers responded that participation was voluntary and that the event did not imply that all white people should leave.
In May 2017, student protests disrupted the campus and called for a number of changes to the college. The protests involved allegations of racism, intolerance and threats; brought national attention to Evergreen; and sparked further debate about free speech on college campuses. During the protests, there was an altercation between protesters and Weinstein.
Weinstein and his wife, Heather Heying, brought a lawsuit against the school, alleging that the college's president had not asked campus police to quell student protesters. Weinstein also said that campus police had told him that they could not protect him, and that they had encouraged him to stay off campus. Instead, Weinstein held his biology class that day in a public park. A settlement was reached in September 2017 in which Weinstein and Heying resigned and received $250,000 each, after having sought $3.8 million in damages.
Post-Evergreen.
Following his resignation from Evergreen, he appeared on the podcasts of Sam Harris and Joe Rogan numerous times. He moderated two debates between Harris and Jordan Peterson. He appeared in the documentary "No Safe Spaces", which documents the Evergreen incidents. Weinstein's brother Eric coined the term "intellectual dark web" and described Weinstein as a member. The term refers to a group of academics and media personalities who publish and debate outside the mainstream media.
In June 2019, Weinstein began the "DarkHorse Podcast", which is typically co-hosted with his wife Heather. Their guests have included Glenn Loury, Douglas Murray, Sam Harris, John Wood Jr., Thomas Chatterton Williams and Coleman Hughes, with topics often centered on current events, science, and culture.
Weinstein was a 2019–2020 James Madison Program Visiting Fellow at Princeton University, which continued for the 2020–2021 year.
Personal life and political views.
Weinstein is married to Heather Heying, an evolutionary biologist who also worked at Evergreen. Heying resigned from the college along with Weinstein and took a similar position during the Day of Absence controversy.
Weinstein describes himself as a political progressive and left-libertarian. He appeared before the U.S. House Oversight Committee on May 22, 2018, to discuss freedom of speech on college campuses.
In 2020, he announced Unity 2020, a plan to nominate for the upcoming US presidential elections a pair of suitable candidates, each associated with one of both major political parties, to govern as a team.