Interim UW-La Crosse chancellor recommends Joe Gow be fired from tenured faculty position

The interim chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse recommended Joe Gow be fired as a faculty member, alleging he engaged in "unethical and potentially illegal conduct," according to a letter obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The UW Board of Regents removed Gow as chancellor last year after learning he and his wife created sex tapes and posted them on porn websites, such as OnlyFans, PornHub and XHamster. Many of the videos feature adult film stars and include segments on vegan cooking.

Gow, 63, still retains his tenured faculty appointment but is on paid leave and not teaching this semester. The UW System hired outside law firm Husch Blackwell to investigate whether he should also lose his professor post.

Gow said interim UW-La Crosse Chancellor Betsy Morgan last month emailed him a roughly 300-page investigative report and recommended his dismissal. On Wednesday, he requested a public hearing of the charges.

"I want to clear my name," he told the Journal Sentinel.

UW System spokesperson Mark Pitsch declined to comment on the development in the investigation, saying it remained an ongoing personnel matter.

What's in the investigative report?

Gow declined to provide the Journal Sentinel with the report, saying he did not want to interfere with the process or influence the faculty committee hearing his case.

Morgan filed three charges against Gow, according to the letter she sent him late last month: unethical and potentially illegal conduct, violation of the interim chancellor's work directive to cooperate with the investigation and violation of information technology use policies.

The UW System declined to provide the report Wednesday. The Journal Sentinel submitted a public records request for it.

Did Joe Gow participate in investigation?

Gow said he did not sit down with the two investigators UW System hired. He said he agreed to answer questions in writing, but investigators did not take him up on his offer.

He also said he has not hired a lawyer to represent him, citing financial reasons.

"I don't have unlimited financial resources that the UW System appears to have," he said, referring to the amount spent on the outside investigation. "I am confident I will get a fair hearing from the faculty, and I look forward to defending myself."

How much did investigation cost?

It's unknown at this point. The Journal Sentinel filed a public records request for contracts associated with the investigation in mid-January. The UW System has not turned over any records.

Gow said he found the number of people participating in the investigation "remarkable," with multiple technology consultants and others at Husch Blackwell beyond the two investigators involved.

What happens next?

The filing of charges kicks off a bureaucratic process outlined in state law. At Gow's request, a UW-La Crosse faculty committee will hear his case publicly and recommend whether he should be fired.

Hearings generally must be held within 20 days of the faculty member's request, though the rules allow for extensions.

What happens after the hearing?

The committee's recommendation then heads to the chancellor.

Regardless of whether the committee's recommendation aligns with the chancellor's, the chancellor can send a dismissal recommendation to the UW Board of Regents.

The board would then hold its own hearing, which the faculty member can again request be held publicly.

Is it difficult to fire tenured faculty?

Chancellors serve limited appointments and can be fired at-will. That's how the regents quickly relieved Gow of his duties within days of learning about the videos.

The bar to fire tenured faculty is much higher. They "may be dismissed only by the board and only for just cause and only after due notice and hearing," according to state rules.

Just cause isn't spelled out beyond saying faculty members are "entitled to enjoy and exercise all the rights and privileges of a United States citizen, and the rights and privileges of academic freedom as they are generally understood in the academic community."

Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com or 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UW-La Crosse chancellor recommends Joe Gow be fired from faculty job