The Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse was fired by the Board of regents on Wednesday night after it was discovered that several videos of him and his wife, Carmen Wilson, were posted to porn websites in recent months. He questioned if his firing violates free speech protections. He said that he and his wife both have the freedom of the First Amendment to the Constitution to create books and videos about consensual adult sexuality. Wilson worked at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse for about 15 years and is the wife of the fired Chancellor. Wilson was an associate professor of psychology at Iowa State University when she chaired the search committee for a new chancellor. Wilson was the leader of the University of Rock County when her position was eliminated because of budget cuts. She was the vice president for academic affairs at Dickinson State University. Wilson and Gow were married on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco in June of 2014). Wilson was an "associate to the chancellor" under the terms of his contract when he was Gow's spouse. Wilson was a member of The Furlow Riders, a blues-rock band. The group performed at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Wilson and Gow have appeared in several porn websites using the name "Sexy Happy Couple" and at least two social media accounts promoting their videos. The couple's account on X now says "visit our Loyal Fans and Only Fans sites for fully explicit scenes!" Both books and the social media accounts show photos of Joe Gow and Wilson.
The tension between their public status and private lives was addressed in books.
Two books were published by the couple under the names Geri and Jay Hart. The books allude to the couple's status in the community and the tension they felt between the expectations of their careers and their desires to be more open about their sex lives. They wrote in "Monogamy with Benefits: How Porn Enriches Our Relationship" that they couldn't be more entrenched in the local establishment. We serve as executives at two well-known organizations in the city where we live, but we are also active in charitable and civic activities. We are visible in our city because we hold seats on non-profit boards. People approach us from time to time to say they have seen us on television, because we are quoted in the newspapers. You can find pictures of us smiling alongside politicians on the web.
If our peers were to know about what we were doing, our careers would likely be ruined. The first experience that the couple had was in a professionally produced sex video just before they got married. Carmen Wilson talked about being more open.
The videos were uploaded a couple of months after Gow announced he would step down as chancellor and return as a faculty member. He said that it was a good time to test the commitment of the University of Wisconsin to free speech.