LA CROSSE, Wis. — In a closely watched First Amendment rights case, a former University of Wisconsin campus chancellor who was fired after making pornographic films with his wife argued Friday for keeping his tenured teaching position even as he faces removal for unethical behavior.

Joe Gow, who had served as chancellor of UW-La Crosse for nearly 17 years, hoped to convince a personnel committee of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents to recommend he be allowed to retain tenure and return to teaching communications courses.

Gow has been on paid leave from his faculty position since the regents fired him as chancellor in 2023, shortly after university leaders became aware of the videos that were posted on pornographic websites.

Gow’s behavior has been “unethical, hypocritical and unacceptable,” university attorney Wade Harrison told six regents who form the personnel committee on Friday.

“Enough is enough,” he said. “Dr. Joe needs to go.”

A UW-La Crosse faculty committee unanimously recommended in July that Gow lose his faculty position, saying he exploited his position to generate more interest and revenue from the videos. University attorneys argued Friday that he should lose his tenured teaching position because he harmed the university’s reputation and interfered with its mission.

Gow has established that he is unable to recognize his own poor judgment, university attorneys argued in filings ahead of the hearing.

The regents personnel committee discussed the case behind closed doors after taking testimony Friday. Its recommendation, also secret, will then be taken up at a meeting of the full Board of Regents as soon as next week.

The case has garnered national attention both for the salaciousness of a high-profile university official making pornographic movies and publicly talking about it and the questions it raises about free speech rights.

Gow argued that his videos and two e-books he and his wife, Carmen, have published about their experiences in adult films are protected by the First Amendment.

“You don’t need the First Amendment to protect ‘The Star Spangled Banner,'” Gow’s attorney, Mark Leitner, told the committee. “You don’t need the First Amendment to protect easy and comforting speech. It’s exactly the opposite. We need the First Amendment precisely when the danger of stifling, controversial, unpopular speech is at its highest. And that’s what we have here.”

Harrison, the university’s attorney, countered that the videos themselves are legal, but they are not protected speech under his employment contract.

“Gow’s pornography videos are not protected by the First Amendment,” Harrison said.

Gow has gotten what he wants, which is attention on his books and videos, Harrison said.

The regents asked no questions.

“It was a very ominous sign that no regent asked a question,” Gow said after the hearing. “That to me indicates that this has all been preordained.”

When asked if he would consider filing a lawsuit if his tenure is revoked, Gow said, “Would you blame us if we did?”

The school is pushing to fire Gow for unethical conduct, insubordination for refusing to cooperate with an investigation and violating computer policies. The UW-La Crosse employee handbook requires faculty to “exhibit a level of behavior supporting the university mission.”

Gow has maintained that he and his wife produced the pornographic materials on their own time. He insists the videos and the books never mentioned UW-La Crosse or his role at the university.

However, Gow was criticized in 2018 for inviting porn actor Nina Hartley to speak on campus. She was paid $5,000 out of student fees to appear. He developed the idea of bringing her to campus after shooting a pornographic video with her, the university said.

Gow and his wife’s e-books were written under pseudonyms: “Monogamy with Benefits: How Porn Enriches Our Relationship” and “Married with Benefits — Our Real-Life Adult Industry Adventures.” But they also star in a YouTube channel called “Sexy Healthy Cooking” in which the couple cooks meals with porn actors.

Gow’s hope to return to teaching in the classroom is opposed by his department chair, Linda Dickmeyer. She said that because Gow has not taught for 20 years, he would be assigned general education courses, but she opposes allowing him to return to teaching in any role.

ST PAUL, Minn. — The man who was convicted of murdering his former coworker after she declined his romantic advances has been sentenced to life in prison. 

A Benton County district court sentenced 38-year-old Michael Carpenter to life in prison for the 2022 murder of 28-year-old Nicole Hammond on Friday.

Hammond and Carpenter were coworkers, and Hammond declined Carpenter’s advances. 

The statement of probable cause outlines that Carpenter knew the victim and declined his advances in texts sent the night before. She also told him “to not make things uncomfortable at work.” In other messages police found on her phone, Hammond told someone else that Carpenter was mad at her.

Co-workers told officers that Hammond declined Carpenter’s advances for the past month and that he was known for having a temper, according to the court document.

Police found the 28-year-old victim in the parking lot of their workplace on October 24, 2022 with a pool of blood surrounding her head. 

During interviews with witnesses, Carpenter allegedly called one of them and said he already knew about the victim not showing up to work and getting shot. When the co-worker asked how Carpenter was doing, he allegedly said “he was not doing okay.” Carpenter added that he was at his sister’s house, and police then took him into custody at that location.

According to the complaint, Carpenter gave police “contradictory statements” about the timeline of events that morning and what he told different people.

Carpenter was convicted of the murder on Aug. 5. 

ST PAUL, Minn. — A Minneapolis man has been charged with murder after he allegedly killed a man in St. Paul. 

Squads were called to the 1200 block of University Ave. W around 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday after a 911 caller reported hearing gunshots and seeing a person lying on the ground. 

Responding officers found 32-year-old Lul Dak Chak unconscious and suffering multiple gunshot wounds, according to the charging document. Medics arrived on the scene and pronounced Chak deceased. 

Witnesses of the shooting told police that two men exited a Subaru, shot Chak multiple times and then fled. One of the witnesses told police Chak said he was going to buy narcotics, according to the charging documents. 

Surveillance video from the parking lot showed a Subaru moving around the lot multiple times before Chak approached the car. The footage allegedly shows the driver and passenger of the car exit, shoot Chak multiple times, walk closer to his body and then shoot him again, before leaving the lot. 

“From the video it’s apparent that LDC (Lul Dak Chak) was targeted and executed,” the charging document states. 

Investigators used surveillance video to track the car back to an apartment in Minneapolis, where the car’s owner lived. 

The woman who owned the car told police her boyfriend, 22-year-old Kueth Chuol Ngut, had taken her vehicle on the night of the shooting, according to charging documents. She also identified one of the men as Ngut after police showed her parking lot surveillance footage. 

Officers executed a search warrant on the woman’s apartment, where they found and arrested Ngut, and located a gun with ammunition that contained some identical headstamps to the casings that were found near the scene of Chak’s shooting. 

Ngut was allegedly hostile and dismissive when investigators attempted to interview him. 

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.