Jordan Peterson is a clinical psychologist and tenured professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. He is currently embroiled in a battle with his university and the progressives over the use of “preferred prounouns”.
That term refers to some transgender people wanting to use something other than “he” or “she”. Some of them are content with using “they”, which is grammatically incorrect but at least a real word. Others prefer an ever increasing list of new words, each more absurd than the previous. Not only do they wish to use these new pronouns, they also expect everyone else to use them. Anyone refusing to do so is violating the person’s identity.
Of course, since this is happening in Canada it comes with an additional penalty: refusing to use a person’s preferred pronoun is a crime punishable by fine. Should one refuse to pay the fine, one risks jail time.
That is right. It is possible to go to jail for calling someone “he” when they prefer “zir”.
Dr. Peterson found this utterly ridiculous and refused to go along with it. This prompted a great deal of scorn from his colleagues and progressives at his university.
Peterson has given several interviews about the situation. I found his talk with Joe Rogan slightly more casual and as a result more informative. Peterson is very much the professor and can out talk any interviewer (I wonder how notable talker Milo Yiannopoulos would fair with Dr. Peterson). However, I think the lecturing style works here because Peterson provides so much insight. I would love to take his class, but in its absence the interview will suffice.
Toy Soldiers 
“This prompted a great deal of scorn from his colleagues and progressives at his university. ”
Actually, he openly fears his license to practice as a clinical psychologist will be lost, letters from his supervisor are laying the groundwork for termination plus civil court actions by the Social Justice Tribunal. So far more than scorn from colleagues.
” I would love to take his class…”
You can essentially. His youtube channel has over a hundred hour long videos of class lectures (you can also find papers, assignments, reading lists and his books). I’ve listened to a lot of them and they are just deep and fascinating. It’s such a shame someone like this is being attacked. Even if you think, idk, he’s hopelessly traditional, he’s simply an academic discussing ideas in the end. A free society can/must tolerate that.
His “red pill” insights are really gratifying in this age. (i.e. how fathers engage in rough and tumble play and how that helps children modulate aggression).