University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow was fired on December 27 by the UW System Board of Regents after being accused of “abhorrent” actions, according to a statement from the president of the Universities of Wisconsin.
Gow, 63, and his wife, Carmen Wilson, 56, appeared in online porn videos under the account “Sexy Happy Couple,” which led to his termination as chancellor, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Heavy verified that the graphic videos were still viewable online. Gow and his wife still have an active X page called @SexyHappyCouple. “Passionate plant-powered couple cooking, conversing, and shooting with top adult video stars. Visit our LoyalFans and OnlyFans sites for fully explicit scenes!” the profile reads. The cover photo shows them standing in a kitchen; the website is called “Sexy Healthy Cooking.”
One X post touted the couple’s OnlyFans page, saying, “If you’re on OnlyFans please check out our solo interview, sex scene and cooking demo.” The couple’s OnlyFans page reads, “Top adult video stars cook, converse and shoot sex scenes with a plant-powered couple. Please subscribe to have full access to complete episodes!”
The couple still have an active account on Pornhub that has 358 subscribers and 72,300 video views. Heavy is not linking to the Pornhub account because the videos show graphic sexual content. “Our vacation sex,” one video is called. The couple’s faces are visible in the videos, which show them engaging in sex acts.
Wilson, who was a professor at UW-La Crosse in the psychology department, served as provost and vice president for academic and student affairs at Dickinson State University in North Dakota, according to her CV, although she said in a podcast in 2020 that she was no longer serving in that role.
Wilson, then an associate professor of psychology at UW-La Crosse, was chairwoman of the search committee that chose Gow as chancellor, according to a La Crosse Tribune article in 2006.
It quoted her as saying, “He connected so well with the campus during his visit, his leadership style is inclusive and collaborative, and he is just what we need to help us move forward.”
Wilson also served as campus executive officer and dean at the University of Wisconsin-Rock County and was the “chancellor’s chief of staff and affirmative action officer” from 2008 to 2011 at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, which is a time frame when Gow was chancellor. The couple married in 2014, according to the university. In that role, she coordinated analysis of a campus climate survey and was a “member of the Chancellor’s cabinet,” the CV says. She also helped implement the university’s affirmative action policies.
In statements, Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman and UW System Board of Regents President Karen Walsh revealed that the Board of Regents voted unanimously to terminate Gow as chancellor, a position he has held at the major public university since 2007.
Jay Rothman said in the statement: “Upon my recommendation, the UW Board of Regents today terminated Dr. Joe Gow from his position as chancellor of UW-La Crosse effective immediately. In recent days, we learned of specific conduct by Dr. Gow that has subjected the university to significant reputational harm. His actions were abhorrent.”
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Joe Gow Told a Local Newspaper That the Porn Videos & Books Are a Free Speech Issue Exploring ‘Consensual Adult Sexuality’ With His Wife, Carmen Wilson
Gow told Wisconsin’s Morning News that “there was a lack of due process and cited freedom of speech,” the statement reported.
“These are serious works [in which] we examine consensual adult sexuality, so we would think that would be protected by the First Amendment,” Gow told WTMJ. “I’m very concerned that there was no due process around this, and what that entails is having a hearing and I get to know what I’m charged with and I get to reply and make my case. That never happened.”
Gow added to WTMJ:
I think the board is not upholding, A., The First Amendment, nor is it upholding its own policy on academic freedom, or is it upholding a very rich tradition at the University of Wisconsin which is called the fearless sifting and winnowing in the search for the truth, so there are some complexities here that I think people are missing.
According to the Journal Sentinel, Gow and Wilson published books “detailing their experiences in the adult film industry, under pseudonyms.” WXOW-TV reported that the pseudonyms are Geri and Jay Hart.
The book, available on Amazon, is titled “Married With Benefits: Our Real-life Adult Industry Adventures.”
The Amazon.com blurb for one book describes them as a “respectable, middle-aged couple in the townhouse next door. They have a loving marriage, advanced degrees, and successful careers. But there’s something about Geri and Jay you might be surprised to learn: they enjoy collaborating with top professional performers and production people to create their own upscale pornographic videos.”
The book was published in 2018 and shows the couple’s faces in a photo on Amazon.
The Journal Sentinel confirmed that they appear in photos in the books and on social media under the “Sexy Happy Couple” name. According to the Journal Sentinel, Gow is claiming it is a free speech issue and the books and videos explore “consensual adult sexuality.”
He decided to “be a little bit more open about these free speech issues,” Gow told The Journal Sentinel.
“There’s nothing said about the University of Wisconsin; there’s nothing said about the chancellor [on the videos],” Gow told the newspaper. “So someone else would have to make those associations. And then someone would have to say those are problematic.”
There is a petition drive to rehire Gow as chancellor.
A September article on the UW-La Crosse website said that Gow had already planned to step down as chancellor at the end of the year and transition back to a faculty role.
That article called him “the longest-serving active chancellor in the UW System and the second-longest-serving chancellor in school history.”
The university article contains a photo showing Gow with his wife and says, “Joe Gow and his wife, Carmen Wilson, acknowledge the crowd after Wednesday’s announcement.”
Gow’s wife was called an “experienced administrator” at UW-La Crosse in a podcast about vegan cooking in which she appeared with her husband in 2020.
“I actually started my career here at UW-La Crosse in 1996 as an adjunct faculty member and earned a tenure track position,” she said in that podcast.
Gow and his wife were also pictured in a series of 2018 photos on the UW-La Crosse website that said they had a football rivalry.
2. Chancellor Joe Gow Is Being Placed on Administrative Leave as He ‘Transitions Into His Faculty Role,’ the Statement Says
According to the statement from Rothman, an investigation will be conducted into Gow.
“As a tenured faculty member, Dr. Gow will be placed on paid administrative leave as he transitions into his faculty role at UW-La Crosse. However, I have filed a complaint this evening with interim Chancellor Betsy Morgan regarding Dr. Gow’s status as a tenured faculty member, asking that such status be reviewed,” Rothman wrote. “In addition, an outside law firm has been engaged to undertake a fulsome investigation of the matter. We anticipate the complaint will be considered in the normal course as dictated by Wis. Admin. Code Ch. 4.”
UW System Regent President Karen Walsh said in the statement:
This Board is charged with the stewardship of our great Universities of Wisconsin. Unfortunately, Dr. Joe 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.
According to the statement, the Universities of Wisconsin “serve more than 162,500 students” and award nearly 37,000 degrees each year.
3. Chancellor Joe Gow Was Previously Reprimanded for Inviting a Porn Star to Campus
UW-La CrosseChancellor Joe Gow.
In 2018, Gow was reprimanded after he “invited a porn star to campus,” according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
That article says the reprimand came for “exercising poor judgment.” The porn star, Nina Hartley, was invited to speak at a free speech event, the newspaper reported at the time.
The letter from then UW System President Ray Cross, published by the Journal Sentinel, said that Cross was “deeply disappointed by your decision to actively recruit, advocate for, and pay for a porn star to come to the UW-La Crosse campus to lecture students about sex and the adult entertainment industry.”
Cross wrote that Gow showed “a lack of responsible oversight with respect to the use of state funds.” The reprimand would affect his salary adjustment, according to Cross’ letter.
According to journalist JR Ross of Wispolitics.com, “Hartley is one of actors who taped episode of “Sexy Healthy Cooking” with Gow, his wife. They posted “fully explicit” episodes of show to porn sites.”
4. Chancellor Joe Gow’s Biography Describes Him as a Vegan, Runner & Blues Singer
According to his biography, which is still up on the UW-La Crosse website, Gow “became the 10th Chancellor of UW-La Crosse in February of 2007.”
“Throughout his administrative career, Chancellor Gow has consistently furthered liberal arts and professional academic programs to enhance student success,” the bio says.
“Chancellor Gow has served as the President of the National Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences and as a member of the editorial board of the journal Popular Music and Society,” it adds. “He has authored a number of publications on popular music and news media, and serves on the boards of several civic organizations in the La Crosse area. In his spare time he is a guitarist and blues singer. The chancellor also is a vegan and runner.”
5. Joe Gow & His Wife Carmen Wilson Were Married at the Center of the Golden Gate Bridge
When the couple married in 2014, it warranted an announcement in a university newsletter.
“UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow married Carmen Wilson, UW-Rock County dean, at the center of the Golden Gate Bridge Thursday, June 26,” the university wrote.
“Both enjoy running, said Gow, so they decided to run from opposite sides of the famous San Francisco bridge and meet their officiant for the ceremony in the middle. Gow says soon a crowd caught on to what they were doing and stopped to watch and take pictures. Both love their jobs at UW-L and UW-Rock County and will continue to live in La Crosse and Janesville, respectively, said Gow.”
Gow graduated with a journalism degree from Penn State in 1982, a master’s degree in speech communication from the University of Alabama in 1985, and a Ph.D. in speech communication from Penn State in 1989, according to his university biography.
“He also completed the Management Development Program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education in 1998,” the bio says.
Gow previously served “as both the Interim President (2006) and Provost (2004-2006) of Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln,” the bio says, adding, “And earlier in his career Chancellor Gow was the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Minnesota’s Winona State University (2001-2004), as well as both the Associate Dean of Liberal Arts & Sciences (1996-2001) and the Director of the Communication Studies Program (1990-2001) at Alfred University in Upstate New York. While at Alfred he was a three-time recipient of the Alfred University Excellence in Teaching Award.”