In a high-profile First Amendment rights case, a former University of Wisconsin president who was fired after making a pornographic film with his wife argued Friday to keep his tenured teaching job even as he faces termination for unethical conduct.
Joe Gaw, who served as president of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse for nearly 17 years, was hoping to persuade the personnel committee of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents to recommend that he retain tenure and return to teaching communications courses.
Gow has been on paid leave from his faculty position since he was removed as president by the Board of Trustees in 2023, shortly after university leaders became aware of the video posted to a pornography site.
University attorney Wade Harrison told the six trustees who make up the personnel committee on Friday that Gow's conduct was “unethical, hypocritical and unacceptable.”
“Enough is enough,” he said. “Dr. Joe has to go.”
A faculty committee at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse unanimously recommended in July that Goh be removed from his professorship, accusing him of using his position to derive more attention and revenue from the videos. Lawyers for the university argued Friday that Goh should be removed from his tenured position because he has damaged the university's reputation and undermined its mission.
Lawyers for the university argued in documents filed ahead of the hearing that Gow has demonstrated he is unable to recognize his own errors in judgment.
The board's personnel committee discussed the matter in private after hearing testimony on Friday. The committee's recommendations, which are also confidential, are expected to be taken up at a meeting of the full board as early as next week.
The case has attracted national attention both for its obscenity – a prominent university employee making a pornographic film and then publicly discussing it – and for its questions about freedom of speech.
Gau argued that the videos and two e-books in which he and his wife, Carmen, documented their adult film experiences were protected by the First Amendment.
“We don't need the First Amendment to protect 'The Star-Spangled Banner,'” Gau's lawyer, Mark Lightner, told the committee. “We don't need the First Amendment to protect speech that's comfortable and feel good. Quite the opposite. We need the First Amendment when the danger of repressive, controversial and unpopular speech is greatest, and that's exactly where this is.”
Harrison, the university's lawyer, countered that while the video itself is legal, it is not protected speech under employment contracts.
“Gau's pornographic videos are not protected by the First Amendment,” Harrison said.
Harrison said Gow got what he wanted: attention for his book and videos.
The regents asked no questions.
The university is seeking Gau's termination for unethical conduct, insubordination for refusing to cooperate with an investigation, and violations of computer policies. The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse employee handbook requires faculty and staff to “demonstrate certain behaviors that support the university's mission.”
Gaw claims that he and his wife produced the pornographic material on their own time, and that the videos and book make no mention of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse or his role there.
But Gow came under fire for inviting porn actress Nina Hartley to speak on campus in 2018. She was paid $5,000 out of student fees to speak, and the university said Gow's idea to invite her to campus came after he filmed a pornographic video with her.
Gow and his wife have written e-books under pseudonyms, including “Monogamy with Benefits: How Porn Enriches Our Relationship” and “Monogamy with Benefits: Our Real Adventures in the Adult Industry,” but they also appear on a YouTube channel called “Sexy Healthy Cooking,” where they cook alongside porn actors.
Gou's desire to return to classroom teaching has been opposed by Faculty Dean Linda Dickmeyer, who said Gou would be assigned general education courses but was opposed to allowing him to return to teaching in any capacity because he has not taught in 20 years.
