I think this is pushing the argument too much. I'm sure you see his point that physics is different than philosophy.

The claim was that it would be "absurd" if a professor of physics admitted that his opinion regarding a "problem" would be different if he attended a different school.

I fail to see what would be absurd about it. I take the word "problem" here to mean something that doesn't have a settled answer in the field, so I had to reach as far out as string theory to find something accessible to the non-physicist. I honestly don't see in what relevant way physics is different from philosophy here. I likely would've had the same reaction regarding any academic field.