The Intersection of Tenure and Personal Freedom

Months after he’d announced his coming retirement as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse, Joe Gow made a fateful decision: He posted on the internet pornographic videos of himself and his wife. Wisconsin’s Board of Regents promptly fired him as chancellor and, more recently, terminated him as a tenured professor. His case presents some thorny First Amendment questions that are expected to play out in court. Meantime, Gow spoke with The Chronicle’s Jack Stripling about how he balanced his X-rated private hobby with his important public job — and what motivated him to release those videos.

Related Reading:

• A Chancellor is Fired for Porn Videos
• I Made Porn. That Shouldn’t Cost Me Tenure. 
• U. of Wisconsin System President Reprimands La Crosse Chancellor for Bringing Porn Star to Campus

Guest: Joe Gow, former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse

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