A University of Wisconsin-La Crosse professor of communications studies, Joseph Gow, who was fired from the university’s chancellorship last year after his secret life performing in explicit online porn videos and writing books about his sex life was exposed, has lost his tenured professor position as well after a unanimous vote on Friday by the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents. But the decision, coming after months of debate and multiple hearings, isn’t the end of what’s become a closely watched free speech dispute, as Mr. Gow has indicated to the Sun that he is hoping to fight the decision in court. 

The regents, in a 17-0 vote on Friday morning following 30 minutes of closed-door deliberations, voted to terminate Mr. Gow from his tenured, paid position as a communications professor. Although Mr. Gow was promptly fired from his $250,000-per-year chancellor position last year upon discovery of his sexually explicit productions, the university had to show “cause” to fire him under the free speech protections of tenure. For months, Mr. Gow had been desperately fighting to keep his $90,000-a-year tenured professor position as he argued that the porn was part of his protected free expression and academic freedom. 

In a scathing denunciation of the Board of Regents, Mr. Gow tells the Sun that Friday’s decision “violates their own ‘Commitment to Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression’” and that “the people who fired me today aren’t a ‘Board of Regents,’ they’re a ‘Board of Hypocrites.’ They have zero credibility on free speech and expression.” 

“Because Carmen and I wrote and produced our books and videos on our own time — with no reference whatsoever to the UW System — they are protected by both the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the free speech rights outlined in the

Wisconsin State Constitution,” he says, referring to his wife, Carmen Wilson, who performs with him in the pornographic videos. “And now we look forward to defending our rights in a court of law, before an impartial judge or jury. We seek not only to protect our own rights, but to protect free speech and expression for all Americans.” 

Mr. Gow is being represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which tells the Sun that they’re “disappointed UW caved to donors and politicians by throwing a tenured professor under the bus.”

“In a major blow to academic freedom and faculty free speech rights, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents has terminated tenured Professor Joe Gow for producing sexually explicit content off hours,” FIRE’s faculty legal defense counsel, Zach Greenberg, tells the Sun, adding that “public universities cannot sacrifice the First Amendment to protect their reputations.” He says that if Mr. Gow moves forward with the lawsuit, litigation will probably be drafted by the end of the year.

Without his university salary to rely on, Mr. Gow has told the Sun that he’ll likely depend on subscription income from the pornographic OnlyFans content that he produces with Ms. Wilson. The couple also runs a YouTube cooking channel called “Sexy Happy Couple” where they cook vegan food — while clothed — with porn stars, but this channel does not provide a meaningful revenue stream. Paying subscribers, Mr. Gow told the Sun in an earlier conversation, are primarily interested in sexually explicit content.

In testimony last week, UW System’s attorney, Wade Harrison, laid out the “cause,” or violations of university policy that allowed the regents to terminate Mr. Gow. Mr. Harrison said that Mr. Gow’s behavior has been “unethical, hypocritical and unacceptable,” and said that he couldn’t be trusted in a classroom. In a list of charges viewed by the Sun, the university had accused Mr. Gow of violating school policy since he was “clearly identifiable” and referenced his “midwestern location” and academic career in porn videos. The charges also noted that he had invited a porn star, Nina Hartley, 65, to speak on campus after being “on the set with her shooting a pornographic video,” had engaged in “apparently illegal conduct” including paying strippers for sex, and that he had failed to cooperate with investigators. 

The UW System did not immediately respond to a request for comment.