The chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse has been fired over his secret life as a porn star with his wife—and he’s not taking it lying down.
Dr. Joe Gow and Carmen Wilson promote their OnlyFans and LoyalFans side hustles—with “fully explicit scenes”—on their X account under the handle @SexyHappyCouple.
They have written two books about their hobby under pseudonyms and also have a YouTube channel on which they cook vegan meals with well-known sex performers and use their real names.
The president of the state university system called Gow’s action’s abhorrent, and another top official said she was “alarmed and disgusted” by his behavior.
But Gow, who was transitioning from chancellor to a tenured faculty member when he was fired, told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel he didn’t understand all the pearl-clutching.
His extracurricular activities are protected by the First Amendment, he said, and he spent no university resources or work time on the sex videos, which did not reference his day job.
It’s not clear how top education officials learned about Gow’s outside activities but they wasted no time moving to can him.
“Upon my recommendation, the UW Board of Regents today terminated Dr. Joe Gow from his position as chancellor of UW-La Crosse effective immediately,” Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman said in a statement.
“In recent days, we learned of specific conduct by Dr. Gow that has subjected the university to significant reputational harm. His actions were abhorrent.”
He said that because Gow has tenure he was placed on paid administrative leave, but he still wants to strip the aspiring porn star of his status. “In addition, an outside law firm has been engaged to undertake a fulsome investigation of the matter,” he added.
UW System Regent President Karen Walsh said in a statement that Gow “has shown a reckless disregard for the role he was entrusted with at UW-La Crosse to serve students, faculty and staff, and the campus community.”
“The outrage over his behavior is evidenced by the unanimous vote by the UW Board of Regents to terminate him as chancellor. We are alarmed, and disgusted, by his actions, which were wholly and undeniably inconsistent with his role as chancellor.”
Gow, who headed the La Crosse campus since 2007, got into trouble over his proclivities in 2018, when he was denied a pay raise after inviting adult actress Nina Hartley to speak on campus for $5,000.
The Journal-Sentinel reports that Gow, 63, and Wilson wrote in vague terms about the conventional side of their lives in one of their books, describing themselves as “executives at two of the better-known organizations in the city” who are “highly active in charitable and civic activities.”
“We think our sex is beautiful and have no qualms at all about other people watching us make love. But our establishment colleagues likely would be shocked to watch us complete the full carnal process—particularly with professional porn stars—and we’re fairly certain we’d be shunned in our community,” they continued.
“Our careers likely would be ruined, and what’s worse is that the lives of our families and friends also could be impacted significantly, and not in a positive way. So, as much as we’d like to be as honest with everyone else as we’ve been with ourselves about our sexuality, we feel compelled to keep our unconventional lifestyle hidden.”