Faculty Panel Recommends Firing Joe Gow

The Universities of Wisconsin System is one step closer to firing former University of Wisconsin at La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow from his faculty role and stripping him of tenure.

Gow made national news late last year when he was fired from his chancellor job after his pornographic double life came to light. He had hoped to maintain his tenured faculty job despite administrative efforts to fire him amid accusations of illegal and unethical behavior.

But more than three weeks after a public hearing on the matter, a faculty panel has voted 5 to 0 to recommend that the university terminate Gow’s job as a communication studies professor and strip him of tenure. New UW-La Crosse chancellor James Beeby can accept or overrule the faculty panel’s recommendation. Should Beeby accept the recommendation to fire Gow, the final decision will fall to the UW Board of Regents, which has been sharply critical of Gow since the news first broke.

Weeks in Limbo

Gow’s fate has hung in limbo since he and university administrators made their respective arguments at a public hearing before a faculty committee on June 19 and 20.

“After considering all testimony and materials submitted and presented by the parties, the Committee finds that the University administration has established, by a clear preponderance of the evidence, just cause to dismiss Prof. Gow based on his responsibility for the charges set forth above,” the faculty panel concluded in its report, which Gow shared with Inside Higher Ed.

System officials accused Gow of “unethical and potentially illegal conduct,” of refusing to cooperate with a December investigation into the pornographic activities that led to his firing and of violating the system’s information technology use policies. He has disputed all charges, arguing that UW is firing him due to political pressure from lawmakers and a puritanical revulsion to pornography. Gow has argued that his personal X-rated activities are protected by the First Amendment.

The faculty panel ultimately sided with the UW system on all charges. While the members did not accept every allegation leveled against Gow, it found “sufficient evidence” to vote unanimously on most charges, though there was some disagreement over whether Gow refused to cooperate, leading to a 4-to-1 vote on that charge. Otherwise, there was widespread agreement by panelists to fire Gow over alleged policy violations and public actions they believed would harm his standing as a faculty member.

The panel argued that “Gow’s private life is now public by his choice,” and that “his private conduct is entangled with his professional role as a UWL faculty member.” They cast the conflict between his public and private lives as financially self-serving for Gow and damaging to the university, arguing that he has leaned into the publicity for more video views and revenues.

“It would be impossible for Prof. Gow to continue in his position as a tenured faculty member at UWL without also continuing to benefit from the conflict of interest he has created by placing himself in the public eye, in opposition to UWL’s interests, for his private gain,” the panel members wrote.

They also referenced damaging testimony at the June hearing from Linda Dickmeyer, chair of the Department of Communication Studies, which hosted Gow’s faculty role. Dickmeyer had cast Gow as an ineffective teacher, arguing that notoriety “would follow him into that classroom.” (Gow pushed back on Dickmeyer's claims in an interview with Inside Higher Ed, arguing that he has been preparing for a return to the classroom in his free time since he was pushed out of the chancellorship in December.)

Gow expressed disappointment in a statement on Friday night.

“The First Amendment protects the books and videos my wife Carmen [Wilson] and I posted on the internet, so to fire me, UW administrators had to make up a series of duplicitous charges and plant false evidence on our university computers. Now, after over three weeks of deliberations guided by a UW System attorney, the Hearing Committee has affirmed the Administration’s sham case. Remarkably, the primary reason they think I should be fired is for failing to disprove the Administration’s false accusations that I engaged in illegal and unethical behavior,” he wrote.

He added that he and his wife “look forward to a public hearing with the UW Board of Regents.”

Though Gow did not mention the possibility of legal action should the Board of Regents fire him from his faculty job and strip his tenure, during the hearing he did say at one point, “Maybe we’ll end up in a courtroom.” In a Saturday interview with Inside Higher Ed, he said, “We'll take it one step at a time” when asked about potential legal action.

First Amendment Fallout

Free speech groups have rallied behind Gow as he fights for his faculty job.

On Friday, as news of the recommendation was shared online, The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression denounced the decision in a social media post and emailed statement.

“Gow is not the first and will unfortunately not be the last professor colleges punish to appease their critics. Upholding free speech means standing on principle, especially when it is difficult or unpopular to do so. UW-La Crosse should show some backbone, not pander to politicians. Let Gow teach,” FIRE attorney Zach Greenberg said in a statement emailed to Inside Higher Ed.

A spokesperson for UW-La Crosse declined to comment, noting by email that “this remains an active personnel matter.” The UW System did not respond to a request for comment from Inside Higher Ed, nor did faculty members who made up the panel that recommended Gow’s firing.

While the decision to accept or reject the faculty panel’s recommendation now falls to Beeby, who stepped into the chancellor role earlier this month, Gow expects his successor to advance the effort to fire him to the UW Board of Regents.

“The very people who just hired him [the regents] are the ones who want to fire me. I doubt that he would make one of his first decisions as chancellor to go against the people he reports to,” Gow said.