The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents unanimously voted to revoke the tenure of University of Wisconsin-La Crosse’s former Chancellor Joe Gow.
The decision followed the recommendation to remove Gow by the UWL faculty committee in June and a hearing in front of the Regents on Sept. 20, the final step in a drawn-out faculty disciplinary process after discovering Gow’s involvement in pornographic content in Dec of 2023.
On Sept. 27. the Regents discussed Gow’s case in a closed-door session at UW-Parkside. They voted 17-0 to “dismiss with cause” and adopted a dismissal order in an open session with no discussion. Under Wisconsin state law to dismiss a tenured position there must be “just cause and only after due notice and hearing.”
Because of the termination, Gow will lose his faculty salary of $91,915 and over $310,000 in unused sick leave.
After hinting at suing for wrongful termination in previous hearings, Gow told reporters Friday he plans to file a lawsuit on First Amendment grounds.
Gow told WPR he feels the Regent’s decision goes against their promises to uphold free speech. “We might as well take down that famous plaque on the front of Bascom Hall,” Gow said to reporters Friday, “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.”
The 114-year-old plaque Gow referenced sits on UW-Madison’s campus and is a testament to academic freedom, one of the there bedrock values of the UW System.
The plaque reads: “Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere, we believe that the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth shall be found.”
In an interview with the Racquet Press in Sept. 2023 Gow identified the words as a bedrock of what we do at UWL.
Gow told WEAU 13 News he has been in contact with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), who have given Gow and his wife an attorney.
