LA CROSSE, Wis.—Dr. Joe Gow, the former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and a tenured professor of communications currently on administrative leave, is fighting for his professional life after he and his wife were outed as adult content creators. He appeared before a faculty committee today in a hearing for his termination brought by the Universities of Wisconsin (UW) System that fired him as chancellor.
The news broke about his firing in late December 2023. AVN has reported on Gow's case extensively throughout the year. Gow and his spouse, Dr. Carmen Wilson, appear under the online personas of "Sexy Happy Couple." They have appeared in self-produced scenes with A-list adult entertainment performers like Lauren Phillips, Sofie Marie and Nina Hartley. Gow and Wilson also wrote books about marriage and ethical non-monogamy under pseudonyms.
As the hearing commenced on its first day, Gow presented the campaign to remove him from his tenure as a conspiracy instigated by system President Jay Rothman and the Board of Regents due to outside political pressure.
This wasn't the case, according to UW system attorneys Wade Harrison and Jennifer Lattis. While Gow represented himself with the support of Wilson, university system attorneys presented what they characterize as a pattern of unethical and insubordinate behavior instigated by Gow when he was chancellor and during the commission of the investigation that took place earlier this year.
The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and the UW system retained private vendors, including outside counsel from Husch Blackwell LLP. Working on behalf of UW, Husch Blackwell contracted FTI Consulting digital forensics investigator Jerry Bui to review digital artifacts and information systems utilized by Gow and his wife. Bui's report and testimony during the hearing provided a look at the evidence collected to allege Gow's policy violations.
Bui testified to recovering metadata, but not full records, of browsing history and other events tracked on a device used by Gow that reportedly suggests he used university systems for documents like a model release for the tube site xHamster. Gow expressed doubt about Bui's findings and continued to point out that many of the findings were from the forensic images of the computers and digital collections provided by Husch Blackwell investigators.
Gow argued that the UW system lied in its report. Gow said, "Even though the burden of proof is on the administration, I’m deeply grateful to show just how irrelevant, inconsequential, misleading, distorted and downright false their charges are." As to the concerns of fair use policy violations of university computers, Gow said his university computers were seized by UW-LaCrosse Police officers, despite the report saying Gow deleted the information.
Gow explained that the timeline doesn't add up, given that he says he was out of the office when his devices were seized.
AVN is currently investigating whether political pressures from the Wisconsin state legislature added a new dimension of pressure on UW system officials to punish and oust Dr. Gow from his position as a tenured professor.
When the news first broke in late December, some Republican state lawmakers called for Gow's immediate dismissal from the system.
Republican state Sen. Rob Hutton called Gow's conduct "disgraceful" in a statement on December 28, 2023.
"Dr. Gow should not only be immediately removed as chancellor, he also should have no further employment with UW," said Hutton in the statement. "Any UW officials or board members who were aware of this conduct and chose not to address this behavior should also be removed from their position."
In another December 28 statement, Sen. Steve Nass, also a Republican, asked, "Is anyone truly shocked that a public institution of higher education was being led by a porn star?"
Keep in mind that Sen. Hutton serves as the chair of the Senate Committee on Universities and Revenue, and Sen. Nass is a member of that committee, which has the power of the purse regarding appropriations to UW. Dr. Gow briefly mentioned Hutton and Nass in the hearing and accused university system representatives of caving to political pressure.
The second day of the hearing will feature Gow making his defense case. There is not yet any indication of how the faculty board hearing Gow's case will rule. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) published a statement Tuesday that Gow's First Amendment rights to free speech and academic freedom would be violated if the faculty ruled in favor of the UW system and revoked Dr. Gow's tenure.
"Firing him would crash into the First Amendment," the statement reads. "Academic freedom generally protects faculty from punishment for what they do or say off the clock. The same law that shields faculty from getting fired or punished for their political opinions or associations also protects their right to create porn."
During the hearing, Gow hinted he would potentially bring legal action against the university system. He also recalled fielding initial legal assistance from FIRE, which has yet to assign him counsel.
