In a closely 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 for keeping his tenured teaching position even as he faces removal for unethical behavior.
Joe Gow , who had served as chancellor of UW-La Crosse for nearly 17 years, hoped to convince a personnel committee of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents to recommend he be allowed to retain tenure and return to teaching communications courses.
Gow has been on paid leave from his faculty position since the regents fired him as chancellor in 2023, shortly after university leaders became aware of the videos that were posted on pornographic websites .
A UW-La Crosse faculty committee unanimously recommended in July that Gow lose his faculty position, saying he exploited his position to generate more interest and revenue from the videos. University attorneys plan to argue Friday that he should lose his tenured teaching position because he harmed the university's reputation and interfered with its mission.
Gow has established he is unable to recognize his own poor judgment, university attorneys argued in filings ahead of the hearing.
