Interim UW-La Crosse chancellor Betsy Morgan has moved to fire former chancellor Joe Gow from his tenured faculty position at the university.
Morgan has levied several allegations she says warrant stripping Gow of his tenured position. Gow requested a public hearing from the UW-L Faculty Senate to challenge the charges. A hearing could be scheduled before May 6.
Gow served as UW-L chancellor from 2007 to 2023. He was fired in December by the UW Board of Regents for producing and posting online pornography. He was set to retire as chancellor at the end of the 2023-24 academic year and planned to transition into a tenured teaching role in the communications department at UW-L.
Morgan issued three charges against Gow on April 16: unethical conduct, violation of the interim chancellor’s work directive to cooperate with the investigation and violation of information technology use policies.
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The first charge of unethical conduct relates to the adult content he created and published with his wife and other pornography stars. Gow and his wife, Carmen Wilson, starred in and created several pornographic videos and books since 2018. They published the content under pseudonyms on Amazon and social media sites.
The second charge of non-cooperation in the investigation comes from the fallout of his initial termination. Gow said he was contacted by a law firm hired by the university but chose not to speak with them in person while he did not have his own attorney. He added he requested to provide written responses via email, but the law firm did not accept those terms.
According to Gow, the third charge alleges his misuse of university computers as chancellor. Gow maintained that his adult content was made on his own time and with personal devices.
“The videos and books that my wife and I made, we did that on vacation on our own time with our own money. I don’t think you should be fired from a faculty position for what you do on your own time,” Gow said.
As the subject of the hearing, Gow can choose whether the hearing is open to the public or closed. He elected for a public hearing.
As of April 16, UW-L’s faculty senate hearing committee has 20 days to host a hearing or request more time. If the committee does not request more time, the hearing could happen by May 6.
The full investigation report from Morgan has not been made public. The report will be opened and examined when the public hearing takes place.
Firing a tenured faculty member can be difficult. To fire Gow, UW-L administration must prove that Gow did not exercise his “rights and privileges of academic freedom as they are generally understood in the academic community.”
If the charges against Gow hold, he will lose his tenured teaching position and pension fund.
Mark Pitsch, director of media relations for the Universities of Wisconsin, said the issue “remains an ongoing personnel matter and we cannot comment.”
Key developments in the firing of UW-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow for appearing in pornographic films
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow, who was denied a pay raise five years ago over inviting a former porn actress to speak on campus, was fired Dec. 27 for himself engaging in explicit sexual acts with his wife on popular porn websites. The most recent action by the UW Board of Regents is part of a longer saga involving Gow and the adult film industry.
Former chancellor Joe Gow will sit in a public hearing June 19 for charges of unethical conduct while in office. The hearing committee will recommend whether or not Gow should keep his faculty position.
Interim UW-La Crosse chancellor files charges to fire Joe Gow from tenured faculty position for producing online pornography. A public hearing could be scheduled before May 6.
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