Your reading is correct. He's an old schoolish free speech hippie liberal, though he's only in his 50s. I admit that I have listened to his podcast a few times.

Don't bother to watch the video, unless you want to note how extremely charitable and patient he is. More than I would ever be.

Here's a decent summary. It all got kicked off when he said a day of protest where non-whites weren't allowed on campus was wrong.

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/09/18/evergreen-professor-receives-500000-settlement