MILWAUKEE — The morning after his employment as Chancellor of UW-La Crosse was terminated unanimously by the UW System Board of Regents, Dr. Joe Gow confirmed to Wisconsin’s Morning News that he is considering all of his legal options to contest the decision.
His removal came in the wake of the discovery that Dr. Joe Gow and his wife created sexually explicit and pornographic content under the moniker ‘Sexy Happy Couple,’ producing a wide range of videos and written content. In speaking with Wisconsin’s Morning News’ Vince Vitrano and Erik Bilstad, Dr. Gow cited freedom of speech and the lack of due process as his primary considerations as it pertains to legal action.
“These are serious works [in which] we examine consensual adult sexuality, so we would think that would be protected by the First Amendment,” Dr. Joe Gow told WTMJ. “I’m very concerned that there was no due process around this, and what that entails is having a hearing and I get to know what I’m charged with and I get to reply and make my case. That never happened.”
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The former UW-La Crosse Chancellor confirmed that he and his wife’s content recently became more widely available, though he noted that no one is being forced to interact with or read anything they post. As for whether or not this would negatively impact the school’s ability to recruit new students, Dr. Gow referred to an adult film actress’ visit to the campus approx. five years ago and a subsequent influx in enrollment as evidence of the contrary.
Furthermore, Dr. Gow believes that because he and his wife did not identify themselves as being aligned with the UW system, it should not be held against them. He told WTMJ that part of their motivation behind creating this pornographic material was to show a healthy, sexual couple in an industry where morality comes into question. They also wanted to highlight his wife’s specialty vegan cooking.
“I think the board is not upholding, A., The First Amendment, nor is it upholding its own policy on academic freedom, or is it upholding a very rich tradition at the University of Wisconsin which is called the fearless sifting and winnowing in the search for the truth, so there are some complexities here that I think people are missing,” Dr. Gow said.
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