Former University of Wisconsin-La Crosse chancellor Joe Gow on Thursday said that the school’s governing board fired him because members were uncomfortable with him and his wife producing and appearing in pornographic videos.
The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents on Wednesday voted unanimously during a hastily convened closed meeting to fire Gow.
After the vote, Universities of Wisconsin president Jay Rothman and regents president Karen Walsh issued statements saying that the regents had learned of specific conduct by Gow that subjected the university to “significant reputational harm.”
Photo: University of Wisconsin-La Crosse via AP
Rothman called Gow’s actions “abhorrent,” while Walsh said that she was “disgusted,” but neither of them offered any details of the allegations.
Gow on Thursday told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the regents had discovered that he and his wife, former University of Wisconsin-La Crosse professor Carmen Wilson, had been producing and appearing in pornographic videos.
He maintained that he never mentioned the university in any of the videos and the firing contravened his free speech rights.
“My wife and I live in a country where we have a first amendment,” he said. “We’re dealing with consensual adult sexuality. The regents are overreacting. They’re certainly not adhering to their own commitment to free speech or the first amendment.”
Gow also complained that the regents never told him what policy he breached and he was never given a hearing or other opportunity to present his case. He said he is contemplating a lawsuit.
“I got an e-mail last night saying I was terminated,” Gow said. “I wish I would have had the opportunity to have a hearing. When reasonable people understand what my wife and I are creating, it calms them down.”
Gow had planned to retire as chancellor at the conclusion of the spring semester next year and transition into a role teaching communication courses, but Rothman on Wednesday said that he planned to file a complaint with university interim chancellor Betsy Morgan seeking a review of Gow’s tenure.
Rothman said in an e-mail on Thursday that Gow failed to act as a role model for students, faculty and the community, and mistakenly believes the first amendment equates to a “free pass to say or do anything that he pleases.”
“Good judgement requires that there are and must be limits on what is said or done by the individuals entrusted to lead our universities,” Rothman wrote.
Rothman added that Gow served at the pleasure of the regents and was not entitled to any specific process.
“That should be abundantly clear to him,” Rothman said.
Gow took heavy criticism in 2018 for inviting porn star Nina Hartley to speak at the university. He paid her US$5,000 out of student fees to appear.
Ray Cross, then university system president, reprimanded him and the regents refused to give him a pay raise that year. Gow said then that he was exercising the system’s free speech policies.
Gow and his wife star on a YouTube channel called “Sexy Healthy Cooking” in which the couple cooks meals with porn actors. They also have written two e-books, Monogamy with Benefits: How Porn Enriches Our Relationship and Married with Benefits — Our Real-Life Adult Industry Adventures under pseudonyms.
Their biographies on Amazon contain links to their videos on social media and a pornographic Web site.
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