UW-La Crosse chancellor fired for making porn videos says first amendment rights, free speech was violated

 

LA CROSSE, Wis. (CBS 58) – The UW-La Crosse Chancellor fired for making porn with his wife feels his constitutional rights have been violated.

"I got this email saying, 'You're fired.'"

On Wednesday, Dec. 27, after over 16 years as chancellor of the UW campus in La Crosse, Joe Gow was terminated.

"I'm still having a bit of difficulty processing it," Gow said Thursday.

The long-term chancellor was fired in a unanimous decision by the UW Board of Regents at the recommendation of Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothmann.

In a statement, Rothman said the UW had learned of "specific conduct" that subjected the university system to "significant reputational harm."

Gow tells CBS 58 that a week ago, he was approached by human resources about explicit accounts and books he and his wife had published under the handle "SexyHappyCouple." The social media pages for the account directed people to pornographic sites "for fully explicit scenes."

"I explained how those are things that we do in our private lives, not related to work," he said.

Gow claims that after that conversation, he never heard anything more about the issue, so it was a surprise when he found out he had been fired.

"It was quite sudden. There was no due process. I was not told what policy I violated or given the chance to have a hearing and debate the issue," he said.

The accounts directed people to pornographic sites "for fully explicit scenes," which Gow said he made as a private citizen not affiliated with the university or his position in any way.

"Those videos are available only on sites where people would want to see adult material. They'd have to go out looking for it," Gow explained.

"It seems a little hypocritical because what would be wrong with it if they were actually wanting to see it? No one is being forced to see this material or forced to read the books."

Now, he is calling his termination unconstitutional.

"I think it's unfair," he said.

"The books and the videos we've made are protected by the first amendment of the constitution and also the regent's own commitment to academic freedom and free expression."

Since the news of his termination broke, many have made their opinions known, including UW-La Crosse sophomore Cameron Seebruch, who created a petition to reinstate Gow.

"I think he should've had the opportunity to defend himself," Seebruch said. "I just don't think his actions were grounds for termination from his chancellor position. It was completely in his personal life."

T-shirts and stickers in support of Gow are circulating online, just one of the shows of support that he said he has gotten since he was fired. While not all of the comments have been nice, Gow feels this is not about liking or disliking his content but rather a free speech issue.

"We don't have to agree about this, but to say that I lose my job is not appropriate, and I don't know what message that sends, and it will be interesting to see how people throughout the Universities of Wisconsin react," he said.

Gow, who announced his plans to step down from his role as chancellor at the end of the 2023-24 academic year in September, is still a tenured faculty member despite being fired. However, the Universities of Wisconsin will review that status. Rothman said in a statement that in addition to the review, an outside law firm has been engaged to undertake a fulsome investigation of the matter.

Gow questioned the investigation.

"I think that's really ominous because I am a tenured faculty member, and tenure is designed to protect this very thing. The ability to look at controversial issues and talk about them," he said. "So, to say that somehow, he is going to investigate that, I don't know what that means, and I think that should concern all tenured faculty in our system."

Gow is on administrative leave and said he is considering all his options as he speaks with attorneys and First Amendment specialists.

"[We] haven't had time to really get any kind of opinion on what the next steps might be, but we'll certainly look at that in the coming days," he said.