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Bret Weinstein

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Bret Weinstein
Weinstein holding a TEDx talk at the Evergreen State College in 2012
Born
Bret Samuel Weinstein

February 1969 (age 55)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Biologist, professor, public speaker
Known forDay of Absence controversy
SpouseHeather Heying

Bret Samuel Weinstein (born February 1969) is an American biologist and evolutionary theorist.

Education

Weinstein began his undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He eventually transferred to the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he received his undergraduate degree.[1]

Academic career

Weinstein spent the majority of his academic career as a professor of Biology at Evergreen State College in Washington. 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 new drugs pose to humans in the form of heart disease, liver dysfunction and related organ failure.[2][3] Weinstein took a brief hiatus from Evergreen to earn his PhD in Biology from the University of Michigan with a dissertation on evolutionary trade-off mechanisms.[4]

Day of Absence controversy

Since the 1970s, Evergreen has held a "Day of Absence" event in which minority students, faculty, and staff are invited to absent themselves and meet off-campus for a day to demonstrate their importance to the community. This is followed by a "Day of Presence" with events and workshops open to all.[5][6] In 2017, the school instead asked white students and faculty to stay off the campus during the Day of Absence and invited them to attend off-campus events.[5][7][8]

In a letter to Evergreen faculty in March of 2017, Weinstein objected to the change, claiming that the event limited people's right to speak based on skin color. Weinstein argued that although attending activities associated with the Day of Absence was not mandatory, a white student who "violated" this request would be subject to charges of racism and therefore the event was forcing students to stay off campus based on their race.[7] The April 12 event was popular with students, with workshop attendance over the 200-person capacity. That month, one of Weinstein's emails to a colleague regarding the matter was leaked and widely shared among conservative media outlets such as Breitbart and Heat Street, which prompted threats and harassment towards school officials.[6]

In late May 2017, student protests—focused in part on the comments made by Weinstein—disrupted the campus and called for a number of changes to the college.[9][10] Weinstein says he was told that campus police could not protect him and that they encouraged him not to be on campus, which caused Weinstein to hold his biology class in a public park.[11][12] Weinstein and his wife, professor Heather Heying, later resigned and reached a $500,000 settlement with the university after having sued it for failing to "protect its employees from repeated provocative and corrosive verbal and written hostility based on race, as well as threats of physical violence".[13]

Current

Following his resignation from Evergreen, Weinstein has been described as being part of the "Intellectual Dark Web", a term which his brother Eric coined to describe a group of academics and media personalities who publish outside of mainstream media,[14][15][16] though the term is not directly related to the meaning of the term "Dark Web".

Views

Weinstein is a critic of capitalism who has stated that although markets are very efficient at informing consumers of how something should be done in the world, consumers must not rely on markets to tell them what should be done about the world's problems. He is also critical of the United States educational system.[17]

Weinstein appeared before the U.S. House Oversight Committee on May 22, 2018, to discuss free speech on college campuses.[18][19]

Personal life

Bret Weinstein is married to Heather Heying, who is also an evolutionary biologist and also worked at Evergreen. Heying resigned from the college with Weinstein and occupied a similar position as him. His brother Eric Weinstein is an economist and the managing director of Thiel Capital. Bret Weinstein describes himself as a political progressive and "left-libertarian", and is of Jewish ancestry.[20]

Publications

  • Evolutionary Trade-Offs: Emergent Constraints and Their Adaptive Consequences, PhD Thesis, (January 2009)[4]
  • Lahti, David C.; Weinstein, Bret S. (January 2005). "The better angels of our nature: Group stability and the evolution of moral tension". Evolution & Human Behavior. 26 (1): 47–63. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2004.09.004.
  • Weinstein, Bret S; Ciszek, Deborah (2002). "The reserve-capacity hypothesis: Evolutionary origins and modern implications of the trade-off between tumor-suppression and tissue-repair". Experimental Gerontology. 37 (5): 615–27. doi:10.1016/S0531-5565(02)00012-8. PMID 11909679.

References

  1. ^ The Rubin Report (30 May 2017), LIVE with Bret Weinstein: Evergreen State College Racism Controversy, retrieved 5 July 2018
  2. ^ Weinstein, Bret S; Ciszek, Deborah (2002). "The reserve-capacity hypothesis: Evolutionary origins and modern implications of the trade-off between tumor-suppression and tissue-repair". Experimental Gerontology. 37 (5): 615–27. doi:10.1016/S0531-5565(02)00012-8. PMID 11909679.
  3. ^ Zimmerman, Michael (19 March 2012). "Unseen Dangers in Laboratory Protocols". Huffington Post.
  4. ^ a b Weinstein, Bret S. (2009). Evolutionary Tradeoffs: Emergent Constraints and their Adaptive Consequences (PDF) (PhD). University of Michigan.
  5. ^ a b Berlatsky, Noah (14 June 2018). "How Right-Wing Media Has Tried to Stifle Student Speech at Evergreen State College". Pacific Standard. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  6. ^ a b Knauf, Ana Sofia (14 June 2017). ""Go Back to the Zoo": How Evergreen State College Became a Target For Right-Wing Trolls". The Stranger. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  7. ^ a b Svrluga, Susan; Heim, Joe (June 1, 2017). "Threat shuts down college embroiled in racial dispute". Washington Post.
  8. ^ Hartocollis, Anemona (16 June 2017). "A Campus Argument Goes Viral. Now the College Is Under Siege". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  9. ^ Jaschik, Scott. (May 30, 2017)."Who Defines What Is Racist?", Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
  10. ^ Richardson, Bradford (May 25, 2017). "Students berate professor who refused to participate in no-whites 'Day of Absence'", The Washington Times. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
  11. ^ Weinstein, Bret (30 May 2017). "The Campus Mob Came for Me—and You, Professor, Could Be Next" – via www.wsj.com.
  12. ^ "Professor told he's not safe on campus after college protests".
  13. ^ "Evergreen settles with Weinstein, professor at the center of campus protests".
  14. ^ Weiss, Bari (8 May 2018). "Opinion | Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  15. ^ Verbruggen, Robert (9 May 2018). "Re: The 'Intellectual Dark Web'". National Review. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  16. ^ Murray, Douglas (21 February 2018). "Inside the intellectual dark web". Spectator Life. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  17. ^ Weinstein, Bret (31 March 2018). "Harnessing Evolution". Virtual Futures (Interview). Interviewed by Luke Robert Mason. {{cite interview}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  18. ^ Vazquez, Joey (23 May 2018). "Congressional hearing explores freedom of speech crisis on college campuses". Washington Examiner.
  19. ^ "Hearing – Challenges to the Freedom of Speech on College Campuses: Part II". United States House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 22 May 2018.
  20. ^ Episode 970: Bret Weinstein. The Joe Rogan Experience. 2 June 2017.
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