Former University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Chancellor, Porn Producer, Pleads to Keep Teaching Job

LA CROSSE, Wisconsin – In a highly watched First Amendment rights case, a former University of Wisconsin campus chancellor who was fired after making pornographic films with his wife prepared to argue Friday to keep his tenured teaching job even as he faces possible removal for unethical behavior.

Joe Gow, who had been chancellor of UW-La Crosse for nearly 17 years, hoped to convince a personnel committee of the University of Wisconsin Board of Trustees to recommend that he be allowed to keep his job and resume teaching communications courses.

Gow has been on paid leave from his professorship since the regents fired him as chancellor in 2023, shortly after university leaders became aware of the videos posted on pornographic websites.

In July, a committee of faculty at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse unanimously recommended that Gow lose his professorship, saying he had exploited his position to generate more interest and revenue from the videos. University lawyers plan to argue Friday that he should lose his tenured professorship because he damaged the university’s reputation and interfered with its mission.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY: Get daily headlines and breaking news delivered to your email from FOX6 News

Gow established that he was unable to recognize his own lapses in judgment, the university’s lawyers argued in papers filed ahead of the hearing.

“This alone creates a serious risk to the University if Gow continues in his position. Furthermore, the University’s reputation has been tarnished and the harm will undoubtedly be compounded if Gow returns to the classroom,” the lawyers said.

The regents’ personnel committee was scheduled to discuss the matter behind closed doors after hearing testimony Friday. Its recommendation, also secret, will then be considered at a full meeting of the Board of Regents as early as next week.

The case has attracted national attention both because of the obscenity of a senior university official who made pornographic films and spoke publicly about them, and because of the questions it raises about the right to free speech.

Gow argued that his videos and the two e-books he and his wife Carmen published about their experiences in adult films are protected by the First Amendment.

“It is wholly inconsistent with the First Amendment and with the Board of Regents’ own professed loyalty to the philosophy of free speech on a college campus to suppress or even punish speech that is lawful and does no serious harm to the mission of the university,” Gow’s attorney, Mark Leitner, argued in a brief filed ahead of the hearing.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX6 News app for iOS or Android

The university is pushing for Gow to be fired for unethical conduct, insubordination for refusing to cooperate with an investigation and violations of computer rules. The UW-La Crosse employee handbook requires professors to “exhibit a level of behavior that supports the mission of the university.”

Gow said he and his wife produced the pornographic materials in their spare time. He insists the videos and books never mentioned UW-La Crosse or his role at the university.

However, Gow came under fire in 2018 for inviting porn actress Nina Hartley to speak on campus. She was paid $5,000 out of student tuition to speak at the conference. He got the idea to bring her to campus after he filmed a pornographic video with her, the university said.

Gow and his wife’s e-books were written under pseudonyms: “Monogamy with Benefits: How Porn Enriches Our Relationship” and “Married with Benefits: Our Real-Life Adventures in the Porn Industry.” But they also star in a YouTube channel called “Sexy Healthy Cooking,” in which the couple cooks meals with porn actors.

Gow’s desire to return to classroom teaching is opposed by his department chair, Linda Dickmeyer. She said that since Gow has not taught in 20 years, he would be assigned general education classes, but she opposes him returning to teaching in any capacity.