Wisconsin professor fired – again – for making porn videos
"Enough is enough," a university attorney said at a hearing earlier this month. "Dr. Joe needs to go."
SOMERS, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents fired the former chancellor of one of its campuses for a second time, ending a drawn-out faculty disciplinary process focused on his controversial pornographic videos which drew widespread scrutiny and prompted a nationwide debate over whether his behavior was protected by free speech rights.
The board discussed Gow's conduct behind closed doors at a Friday meeting on the UW-Parkside campus for about 30 minutes before moving into open session. The board held no public discussion before unanimously voting 17-0 to adopt a dismissal order.
The UW System did not immediately provide a copy of the board's dismissal order Friday, citing a provision in state law allowing the subject an opportunity to prevent release of the information. Gow said he interpreted the unanimous vote to mean he had been fired.
The firing sets the stage for a lawsuit Gow said he will be pursuing on First Amendment grounds. He said the termination decision was "not at all surprising" and criticized a lack of "independent thought" among board members who he believes were taking direction from the UW System.
"We might as well take down that famous plaque on the front of Bascom Hall because the people who fired me today aren't a Board of Regents – they're a Board of Hypocrites," Gow, 63, told reporters after the vote, referencing a UW-Madison plaque commemorating the regents' defense of a faculty member's controversial views on socialism in the late 1890s. "They have zero credibility on free speech and expression."
The regents had already fired Gow as chancellor last year after discovering he and his wife posted porn videos, sometimes with adult film stars, on platforms such as OnlyFans, LoyalFans and PornHub. Gow's contract, however, provided him with a tenured faculty appointment if his chancellorship ended. He had announced plans to return to teaching even before his unorthodox hobby became international news. But since then, he has been on paid leave.
Earlier: University of Wisconsin-La Crosse chancellor fired for appearing in porn videos
The termination means the loss of Gow's $91,915 faculty salary and more than $313,000 in unused sick leave. A program allows state employees to convert unused sick leave to pay for health insurance premiums upon retirement. UW-La Crosse said Gow's amount could potentially purchase health insurance for he and his wife through age 75.
UW-La Crosse, Joe Gow fight over whether he is fit to teach
Gow's firing comes five years after he was publicly criticized by his bosses for inviting an adult film actress to speak on campus. It's part of a pattern of poor judgement, argued the UW System attorneys representing UW-La Crosse throughout the process.
They also argued Gow would create "serious risk" for the university if he returned to the classroom as a communication studies professor. The UW System investigation also identified other rule violations, such as failing to cooperate with the investigation and misuse of university computers.
"Dr. Gow just doesn't get it, or is unable to acknowledge that his conduct is harmful to the (UW-La Crosse) campus community and a distraction from its core mission," UW System attorney Wade Harrison told the board's personnel committee earlier this month in a hearing. "Enough is enough. Dr. Joe needs to go."
Gow argued his videos and books written about his experience in the adult entertainment industry should be protected by the First Amendment. He noted UW-La Crosse's strong financial position and healthy enrollment undercut the university's claims about reputational harm.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, also known as FIRE, is a national free speech-focused nonprofit that has taken an interest in Gow's case and hired Leitner on his behalf.
"FIRE has said time and time again: public universities cannot sacrifice the First Amendment to protect their reputations," FIRE Faculty Legal Defense Counsel Zach Greenberg said in a statement. "We’re disappointed UW caved to donors and politicians by throwing a tenured professor under the bus."
How strong of a legal case would Joe Gow have?
Corey Silverstein, one of a few adult entertainment industry attorneys in the country, estimated wrongful termination claims by adult content creators are won less than 30% of the time, and even less so when it involves an educator. That's because employment contracts often have morality clauses requiring workers to meet a certain behavioral standard.
The UW-La Crosse employee handbook requires faculty to “exhibit a level of behavior supporting the university mission."
Howard Schweber, a UW-Madison political science professor and expert on constitutional law, said it's "hard to say" how strong of a case Gow might have.
One factor that might hurt Gow: His videos were not just private activities, but earning him money. Commercial expression is much less protected under the First Amendment than other forms of communication, Schweber said.
UW-La Crosse took pains to identify violations that went beyond the videos, such as violating information technology policy and a directive to participate in the investigation. Schweber said none of these were problematic as the basis for disciplinary action. Potentially "trickier," he said, was the university invoking vague standards, such as supporting the university mission and avoiding reputational harm.
Schweber, who has the vantage point of an outsider looking in on the case, pondered how people's perceptions of porn may evolve over time.
"It's obvious they are motivated by the scandalous nature of his activities, but he has given them enough metaphorical rope to hang him with," he said, referring to UW-La Crosse. "I do wonder whether in 20 years people will look back on this incident and find it all rather quaint, though."
Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com or on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer.