University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow was fired by the UW Board of Regents in a closed-door meeting Wednesday night after revelations about his involvement in the adult film industry.
Gow, 63, has served as chancellor since 2007 and had already announced he would step down and move into a faculty role at the end of the academic year.
This isn’t the first time Gow has been in hot water — five years ago, he was reprimanded by then-UW System president Ray Cross for “poor judgment” after he invited an adult film actress to speak at a campus free-speech event.
Here’s what to know about Gow’s chancellorship, his relationship to the adult film industry and his past controversy:
What is Joe Gow’s involvement in adult films?
Gow and his wife, Carmen Wilson, appear in a YouTube channel called “Sexy Healthy Cooking,” which started uploading videos two weeks ago that feature cooking vegan dishes with adult film stars.
Gow and Wilson have six videos on OnlyFans that feature adult film stars, according to descriptions of the videos. They also appear on at least two other porn websites, PornHub and XHamster. Some videos have more than 200,000 views. All videos were posted in the last two months.
Gow and Wilson appear to have published a book in 2018 — under the pseudonyms Geri and Jay Hart — titled “Married with Benefits: Our Real-life Adult Industry Adventures.”
The book is about their experience creating pornographic videos and collaborating with other adult performers.
An earlier book in 2015 was titled “Monogamy with Benefits: How Porn Enriches Our Relationship.”
How did Joe Gow respond to his firing?
In an interview, Gow said he was stunned by his termination, saying he thought the board would be more understanding, given an increased focus on free-speech issues in the UW System.
Gow said creating books and videos exploring consensual adult sexuality is within his First Amendment rights. He said his only regret was that he self-censored that part of his life for so long.
More: Facing controversy over porn videos, UW-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow has few regrets
Why was Joe Gow reprimanded before?
In 2018, Gow invited adult film actress Nina Hartley to give an optional lecture on campus titled “Fantasy versus reality: Viewing adult media with a critical eye.”