by The president of a Wisconsin state university was fired this week after posting pornographic videos with his wife online.
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents unanimously decided to remove Chancellor Joe Gow, who had led the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse since 2007 and was its longest-serving leader since the 1960s. Carmen Mr Gow’s wife Wilson was also removed from her unpaid position as the chancellor’s associate.
Karen Walsh, president of the board, which oversees the system’s 13 universities, said in a statement that the board was “alarmed and disgusted by his actions,” without specifying what they were.
In an interview Thursday, Gow and Wilson said they believe they were fired over the videos, which included sex scenes together and with other people under the username Sexy Happy Couple. Both said they felt it was wrong for the university to punish them for the videos, arguing that doing so infringes on their free speech rights.
“This is not about censoring people in higher education,” Wilson said. She added that the videos are only available to those seeking such content. “If they seek it, they are free to do so,” she said.
Gow, 63, said he and his wife, 56, have made videos together for years, but had recently decided to make them publicly available on pornographic websites and were pleased with the response. They said they never mentioned the university or their jobs in the videos, several of which have racked up hundreds of thousands of views. The couple has also made a series of videos in which they cook with porn actors and then have sex.
“We have that show, ‘Sexy Healthy Cooking,’ where we interview artists and really humanize them in a way that you wouldn’t get in their other work,” Gow said. “It’s an interesting process and the people we work with are completely professional and very pleasant to work with.”
Jay Rothman, president of the University of Wisconsin System, said Gow had caused the university “significant reputational damage.”
Rothman said the current plan was for Gow, who is also a tenured professor of communication, to return to his teaching position after taking paid administrative leave. But Rothman said he had asked the university to review Gow’s tenure status and have a law firm investigate the matter.
Gow said the university “is not following its own policy on academic freedom and free speech,” adding, “They also don’t seem to realize that the First Amendment would be critical in this situation.”
Rothman said it was “ridiculous” for Gow to argue that the First Amendment gave him “a ‘free pass’ to say or do whatever he wanted.”
“We hope that our chancellors, as leaders of these great institutions, will be role models for our students, staff and faculty, as well as the communities we are privileged to serve,” Rothman said.
In 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided a case about a police officer who had been fired for selling a pornographic video of himself. If, City of San Diego v. RoeCourt ruled that the officer’s First Amendment right had not been violated. The court said that while public employees have the right to speak on matters of public interest, a pornographic video does not fall into that category.
If Gow were to take legal action, he would likely have an even tougher path than the police officer in that case, experts said, because courts have often found that public entities have more discretion in removing top officials than they do employees of base.
Mary Anne Franks, a professor at George Washington University Law School who studies free speech and other issues, said Gow had raised interesting questions about what types of speech a university feels obligated to allow.
That question has caused consternation and upheaval at colleges and universities across the country, although usually around divisive political issues.
Ms. Franks noted that another university in the University of Wisconsin System said this year that it could not take action against a student who had posted a racist video online.
“Whether intentionally or not, you’re leaving open the idea that those people who say they’re really committed to free speech and want to debate every topic possible don’t actually mean it,” Ms. Franks said. .
Gow has pressed the issue in the past. During a “Free Speech Week” celebration in 2018, he invited a porn actress to speak to students about the porn industry. The president of the University of Wisconsin System at the time said Gow had used “poor judgment” in inviting the actress. according to a letter published by The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
During his nearly 17 years leading the roughly 10,000-student university along the Wisconsin-Minnesota border, Mr. Gow increased the school’s full-time undergraduate enrollment at a time when enrollment at other campuses from the University of Wisconsin decreased significantly. He also oversaw a significant improvement of campus facilities and emphasized the importance of freedom of expression.
In September, Gow announced that he planned to step down as chancellor and return to the faculty. At the time, university officials praised him and Mr. Gow saying that quitting at that moment felt like “coming out at the top of your game.”
