Joe Gow, fired as UW-La Crosse chancellor for porn videos, is fighting to keep his faculty job
A disciplinary hearing this week to decide whether Joe Gow should be fired as a faculty member from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse is not technically a trial.
But it will closely resemble one, with witness questioning, cross-examinations and closing statements. Most of it will play out publicly, which appears to be highly unusual for these cases and comes at Gow's specific request.
Gow led UW-La Crosse for nearly 17 years until the UW Board of Regents removed him as chancellor last December after discovering he and his wife had created sex tapes, sometimes with adult film stars, and posted them on porn websites. The couple also published two books about their unorthodox hobby.
Gow still retains his tenured faculty position and can only be fired if there is just cause. Both UW-La Crosse and Gow will make their case on whether there is in what is scheduled to be a two-day hearing beginning Wednesday.
For UW-La Crosse, the hearing is the first step in a two-part process to finally purge Gow from its payroll and move on from what many see as an embarassing chapter that damaged the university's reputation. The university declined to comment, saying it was an ongoing personnel matter.
For Gow, it's an opportunity to clear his name and eventually return to the classroom to teach.
"This is a matter of principle, and I'm not going to be intimidated into just going away," Gow told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Here's the latest on a case that's drawn international attention:
Where and when is Joe Gow's faculty hearing?
Five UW-La Crosse professors led by associate biology professor Anne Galbraith make up the "jury," or the hearing committee assigned to Gow's case.
The committee is scheduled to meet June 19 and 20 at the Omni Center, a convention venue in Onalaska about eight miles north of UW-La Crosse. The hearing is not being livestreamed.
In a pre-hearing meeting last month, Gow objected to the hearing's location and date. He asked for it be held on campus in May when faculty were still on contract.
Media were not allowed to attend the pre-hearing conference meeting. Gow recorded and shared it with the Journal Sentinel.
Galbraith told Gow during that meeting that the week of June 17 was the first when all committee members were available to meet. She said professors would receive additional pay for their work.
Betsy Morgan, who is serving as interim UW-La Crosse chancellor through June 30, said she tried requesting space on campus but no rooms were free, primarily because of incoming freshman orientation scheduled the same week.
What happens during a faculty disciplinary hearing?
Like a trial, the hearing will begin with opening statements and end with closing statements. In between, each side gets up to three hours to make their case, call witnesses and cross-examine people testifying for the other side.
Before June 19, the committee will also review documents submitted by both sides. These may or may not also be discussed during the hearing.
Who is representing each side in the hearing?
UW System attorneys Wade Harrison and Jennifer Lattis are representing UW-La Crosse.
Gow is representing himself. He argues the UW System and UW-La Crosse are posing a conflict of interest in their handling of the case because one UW System lawyer, Noah Brisbin, is advising the hearing comittee while Harrison and Lattis are representing UW-La Crosse.
"It feels like the same law firm advising the prosecution and jury," Gow said during the pre-hearing meeting.
Harrison told Gow it was relatively routine for someone in the UW System legal office to advise the hearing committee and another to advise the administration. The attorneys do not talk in depth about the case with the other side as it proceeds, he said in the recording.
What is Joe Gow accused of doing?
The complaint UW Sytem President Jay Rothman filed with UW-La Crosse indicated investigators may look into whether Gow violated state laws or policies on using public positions for private gain and on disclosure of financial activities.
The letter Morgan sent to Gow recommending his dismissal cited different charges: unethical and potentially illegal conduct, failing to cooperate with the investigation and violating information technology use policies.
The charges mostly relate to Gow's time as chancellor. But the hearing focuses on whether he is unfit to teach. Two organizations, the American Association of University Professors and the free speech organization known as Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, have raised doubts about UW-La Crosse's case and whether it seeks to punish Gow for his controverisal lifestyle.
State rules say UW faculty members are "entitled to enjoy and exercise all the rights and privileges of a United States citizen."
What's at stake for Joe Gow?
If Gow is fired, the UW Board of Regents could revoke his unused sick leave. UW-La Crosse told Gow he has accumulated more than $313,000 in unused sick leave.
It's unlikely Gow would lose his pension.
A state worker's pension is an earned benefit that generally cannot be taken away because of termination or criminal charges, according to the Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds, which administers pensions.
State law carves out an exception to withhold someone's pension when the department is ordered to as part of a restitution order. The court may issue a restitution order if the crime is both felony theft and misconduct in public office, and the crime resulted in a loss to the defendant's employer.
Gow has not been criminally charged.
When will the committee vote on Joe Gow?
After the hearing ends, the committee will meet behind closed doors to decide whether there is just cause to fire Gow as a faculty member. A two-thirds vote — four of the five members — is needed to justify dismissal.
How soon the decision comes out after the hearing is unclear. State law says the committee must submit its recommendation to both Gow and the university “as soon as practicable."
“We’ll do this as quickly as we can," Galbraith said during the pre-hearing meeting. "We don’t want this hanging or lingering.”
What happens after the committee's decision?
The committee's recommendation then heads to the chancellor. Regardless of the recommendation, the chancellor can send their own recommendation for dismissal to the UW Board of Regents.
The board would then hold its own disciplinary hearing, which Gow can again request be held publicly.
Morgan, the interim UW-La Crosse chancellor, has already told Gow she believes there is just cause to fire him.
How rare is it for a faculty disciplinary hearing to be public?
Neither UW System nor UW-La Crosse were able to say whether any other faculty had ever requested their disciplinary hearing be made public.
The Journal Sentinel is unaware of any other UW faculty disciplinary hearing held publicly over the past six years.
Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at kmeyerhofer@gannett.comor 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What to know about UW-La Crosse hearing on Joe Gow's future as professor
