Driven from McMaster University campus in Hamilton by an angry mob just the day before, an outspoken professor on the front line in the battle against political correctness was welcomed like a rock star over the weekend at Western University.

Jordan Peterson, the University of Toronto psychology professor who’s drawn controversy for refusing to use gender-neutral pronouns, saw his hour-long address at Western interrupted only by bursts of applause from the more than 700 people who packed into the school’s natural sciences building to hear him.

His speech ended with a standing ovation.

Afterward, he was mobbed outside for selfies from the adoring crowd, mostly young men, more than a few sporting Donald Trump-style hats declaring Make America Great Again.

Tylar Ingles, 23, of Sarnia, was one of them.

Transitioning from woman to man, he came to London on Saturday to protest against Peterson, who refers to individuals as he or she — not they.

That’s drawn fire from the transgender community, and Ingles came ready to do battle, protest sign in hand.

“I was ready to disapprove of him, but pretty much everything he said I agreed with,” said Ingles.

“Everything he said was well thought out. I am female-to-male transgender, I have spoken to people about him and people are really against him. I wanted to see what he had to say. I did not want to make assumptions based on what others say.”

He found him more “inclusive” than he expected. His message on the strength of “individuality,” a common theme in the talk, resonated with Ingles.

“He’s right, it is very much the individual,” he said.

At one point Peterson told the crowd portrayals of him as a transphobe are “absurd,” and that he has support among trans people not represented by activists and protesters.

Julien Bondy from McMaster University came to see Peterson in London after Peterson’s Hamilton talk was cut short by protesters.

“I did not expect the talk to go this way. I am from McMaster and we had a huge protest yesterday,” he said.

“His visit lasted like, 10 minutes. It did not go well.”

But the speech by Peterson, who’s become the darling of the political right based on his free speech mantra, was surprisingly “centrist,” he added.

“You see a lot of Trump hats in there, but it was not really about the right or left, but the centre.”

Bondy speculated Peterson was received differently in London than in Hamilton, because the Hamilton event was free and a $5 fee was charged at Western. That might have filtered out protesters, he said.

Security was heavy at the London event.

The pronoun issue itself had little focus during the talk, with Peterson making broader references to gender issues, from physical strength to women’s nervous systems and how they’re tilted “hard” to “excessive emotionality” to protect children.

He said women hit men more than women suffer violence at the hands of men, but men’s greater “upper body strength” means only they pose a threat.

He took on Bill C-16, proposed federal legislation to add gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds for discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act, saying it’s full of “false claims.”

“You can’t make false facts law,” he said.

The legislation would also amend the Criminal Code to make gender identity or expression a factor to consider in sentencing for hate propaganda. .

At one point he called legislation and policies that strive for equity “reprehensible,” saying they set unrealistic standards and inevitably fail, drawing applause from the crowd.

Peterson didn’t spare universities, either, calling them “playhouses” where students are taught to “bray” in protest and taught “soulless nonsense.”

“He is an intriguing speaker. He was interesting to listen to. It went deeper than I thought it would,” said Sean Killeen, a Western political science student.

Peterson encouraged his audience to look inward, at their conscience, and even to be aware of the evil that exists in all.

“It was fantastic,” said Maeve Sharkey, a Western student.

“I used to be a student of his in Toronto before I transferred here, I was impressed and so happy to see so many people here respectful of him.”

ndebono@postmedia.com