A month after UW-La Crosse's chancellor was fired for making porn videos, students return to campus with shrugs, silence or jokes
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LA CROSSE − University of Wisconsin-La Crosse officials really don't want to talk about the scandal that engulfed the campus a month ago. But in their actions, they are being loud and clear.
Just before students returned this week for the spring semester, UW-La Crosse removed artwork of all former chancellors from a wall in the student union. Nine of the chancellors were portrayed in painted portraits or color photographs. Joe Gow was depicted in a black-and-white pencil sketch, a fitting distinction for a man who led the 10,000-student campus unconventionally and departed in similar fashion. He was fired as chancellor Dec. 27 for creating sex tapes with his wife and posting them on porn websites.
UW-La Crosse spokesperson Kyle Farris said the portraits were temporarily removed while the university prepares space for the new chancellor portrait.
To UW-La Crosse junior Isabel Piarulli, however, it illustrates how sorely administrators want to start fresh. The blank wall removed a potential conversation-starter about a controversial figure on campus.
"They want to turn the page," she said. "They want to move on."
The effort seems to be working. Gow was not a hot topic in the student union Wednesday. The timing of his termination, one week into a monthlong break, certainly helped.
"I think if we all would have came back (to campus) after it had just happened and new things were still coming out, I think there would have been much more discussion on it," said Piarulli, who leads the student newspaper on campus. "But now it kind of seems like it has been kind of pushed under the rug."
UW System spokesperson Mark Pitsch declined an interview on behalf of interim Chancellor Betsy Morgan, saying it would be inappropriate for her to comment amid an open investigation into Gow, who is still a professor on the UW-La Crosse payroll but currently on paid leave. Pitsch requested any questions unrelated to the investigation be submitted by email to the university's communications office.
Others in leadership positions on campus and in the broader community were similarly tight-lipped.
Linda Dickmeyer, chair of the communication studies department in which Gow is seeking to teach, said "the situation is an ongoing personnel issue" and she wouldn't comment. Stephen Mann, who leads the Faculty Senate, wouldn't say anything either. Student government leaders Emma Latus and Siri Flores declined interview requests. Neal Zygarlicke, CEO of the La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce, didn't respond.
Their silence may help the campus move on in the short-term. But the controversy will simmer as an outside law firm investigates Gow's tenured faculty status.
The attorneys' findings will then go to Morgan and a faculty committee. Together, they will face a question higher education has answered only a handful of times before: Should their campus tolerate a porn star professor?
Betsy Morgan to lead UW-La Crosse as chancellor search continues
People with ties to UW-La Crosse describe Morgan, 60, as warm, funny and "the perfect person" to lead UW-La Crosse during this critical transition. She's a breast cancer survivor and mom to twin sons.
Morgan has worked at UW-La Crosse since 1993, mostly in the psychology department. Since 2017, she has served as provost, the No. 2 position at the university.
The UW Board of Regents expects to appoint a new chancellor in late March. It's unclear if Morgan is throwing her hat in the ring for the permanent job. UW-La Crosse said only finalists will be disclosed.
UW Regents policy doesn't allow interim chancellors to be considered without advance written authorization from the UW Regents president. Pitsch wouldn't say if authorization has been granted, citing a state law limiting the public identification of applicants in chancellor searches to final candidates. In at least one previous search, however, UW System informed a campus when the interim chancellor wouldn't be in the running for the permanent position.
In a faculty welcome address last week, Morgan referred to Gow's termination a "small nuclear device that went off." But she also said the explosion of interest in their western Wisconsin city would wear off quickly.
"This is what I know: The press will die down − it already is," she said. "The jokes will die down. That hasn’t quite happened yet. And we will all still be here, doing what we have always done: pursuing the education of students as our primary mission."
One of the biggest applause lines in Morgan's speech came when she confirmed Gow wouldn't teach this semester.
UW-La Crosse instructors got guidance on addressing topic in class
Many students expected Gow would dominate the campus conversation upon their return. But it's barely been brought up in classes, they said.
The university's Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning told instructors there wasn't much benefit to introducing the topic of "recent UWL news events" with students.
"Don't bring it up yourself," read emailed guidance from the center. "If students wish to talk about it, you should feel free to articulate a boundary and state that you are uncomfortable discussing a situation that involves an ongoing investigation or you don’t wish to address content unrelated to the course."
If an instructor chose to talk about it, the guidance encouraged them to "do so briefly and stick to factual information." Some students might be interested in how tenure works.
"Don’t make jokes about the situation," the email said. Some students may have been harmed by pornography; others may enjoy it. Don’t assume there's agreement about this topic.
UW-La Crosse students weigh in on Joe Gow's ouster
Most students said they learned the news about Gow's ouster through Snapchat or other social media apps. Many chalked it up as a joke at first, only to Google Gow's name and confirm his firing through news stories.
"It kind of shocked me," said sophomore Miles Wisneski. "It blew our minds. It came out of nowhere."
Being taught by Gow would be "a little weird," he said, and the UW Regents were right to fire him as chancellor.
Freshman Elizabeth Schwartz feels the same way.
"I definitely wouldn't want to be in his classes," she said.
Jackson Kinney transferred to UW-La Crosse this fall and respected Gow. The two met at a UW Board of Regents meeting in 2022 when Kinney and other students protested the closure of their UW-Platteville Richland campus. He said Gow was one of the only chancellors who approached them to talk.
But Kinney, who is majoring in communication studies, said having him as a professor would create "a potentially awkward learning environment" where students may sign up for his class for the wrong reasons.
"It would just create a lot of drama," he said. "Not to say his class would become a joke but people would always talk about it."
Sophomore Cameron Seebruch, of Burlington, falls on the supportive end of the spectrum. He created an online petition the night Gow was fired: "Joe Gow should be able to continue his position at the university because the vids are low key good. Please sign this petition to reinstate our beloved Porn Star Chancellor."
At first, Seeebruch said the petition was a joke. Sort of like the "Free Joe Gow" T-shirts being sold. But the more Seebruch thought about it, the more he believed Gow shouldn't have been fired.
"I think most students would support him," he said. "One, it’s something he did in his spare time. Two, it’s really funny and three, it’s nothing too crazy. It's sex."
Freshman Emma Riske admits she didn't even know who Gow was until the news broke. She didn't feel strongly about whether he should teach on campus.
"I don't care what he does in his personal time," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "It's consensual and legal. What's the big deal?"
Let's move on, community leaders say
The big deal, community leaders said, is how Gow is distracting from the university's work.
"There's such tremendous faculty there who, every day, show up and do everything they can to make sure they're preparing students for the future and helping them fulfill their dreams and I think that it is unfortunate for them that all this has occurred," said Mitch Reynolds, the La Crosse Mayor and a UW-La Crosse alumnus.
Some seniors on the cusp of graduation wondered if the topic would come up during job interviews. Other students described fielding awkward questions from relatives at holiday parties. Piarulli, the student newspaper editor, said a university employee told her about wearing UW-La Crosse spirit wear in an out-of-state airport and being asked if their school was the one with the porn star chancellor.
Gow will not define the university, said Brian Rude, a former Republican state lawmaker for the area who served on the chancellor's community cabinet and interacted with Gow regularly. With nearly 17 years at the helm, Gow obviously helped UW-La Crosse thrive but it's time for him to move on, he said.
"We all want the story behind us," Rude said. "We all want Joe gone. I’ve heard it from a number of alumni. They don’t like this story associated with their institution, especially when UWL has been such a positive story in the La Crosse community."
Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KellyMeyerhofer.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UW-La Crosse students, faculty react to firing of Chancellor Joe Gow
