Star Tribune
University of Wisconsin revokes tenure of former porn-making chancellor who wanted to teach
MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents voted unanimously Friday to revoke the tenure of a former campus chancellor who was fired after making pornographic films, rejecting his wish to remain a communications professor.
Joe Gow, who had served as chancellor of UW-La Crosse for nearly 17 years, argued last week that he should be allowed to retain a teaching position on campus. But university attorneys argued he was unethical, violated terms of his employment contact, damaged the reputation of the university and interfered with its mission.
The regents met in closed session Friday morning before voting in public to fire Gow. There was no discussion in open session before the board voted. Gow has said he is considering filing a lawsuit to retain his teaching job. He didn’t immediately return a message Friday morning.
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, which were posted on pornographic websites.
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.
The university’s attorney argued that Gow’s videos themselves are legal, but that they are not protected speech under his employment contract.
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.
The aptly named Type/Variant house is ever changing.
Built in 1994, the copper siding-clad home was shiny and brown. As it aged, the copper oxidized, giving the panels their own patina, some a blue-green, others a deep brown.
Client Richard Polsky and Minneapolis architect Vincent James drew inspiration from rural industrial structures in Wisconsin and Minnesota, envisioning each cubic part of the home as simple, elegant timber-like features.
“We selected copper siding after seeing one of [Polsky’s] artworks — a beautiful copper etching composing a set of plates of simple variations,” James said in an email. “They loved the evolving copper color as it weathered and that the changes were outside of their control.”
The home, which won the American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Architecture in 1998 as well as the American Institute of Architects Minnesota Honor Award in 1996, even garnered a New York Times feature for its ingenuity and modernist look. After decades of enjoying all the seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom home has to offer — from its artistic forms to fishing on the nearby lake and tapping maple trees on the property — the Polsky family recently listed the Hayward, Wis., home for $4 million and hope to find buyers who will relish it the same.
“[Us kids have] spread out quite a bit over the years. It was a place for my parents to go every summer. It was getting harder for them to get there,” said Polsky’s son Charlie Polsky. “It’s sad that the house is for sale. But it’s a house that needs to be used.”
Richard Polsky always had grander ideas for his land in Hayward, about a 2 ½-hour drive northeast from the Twin Cities. A professor at Columbia University, he interviewed artists and was interested in how they expressed their views creatively.
“My father, who is turning 93 this year, is a lifelong artist and has been interested in aesthetic and space for a long time,” Charlie Polsky said. “We started interviewing architects in the mid-90s, and he had a vision for what the house should be in terms of materials and how it is built.”
A federal judge ruled this week that a middle school principal being an ally for LGBTQ rights does not mean she gets the legal protections of someone in a marginalized group.
U.S. District Court Judge Patrick J. Schiltz on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Mary Kay Thomas against the school board of Marshall, Minn.
Thomas, formerly a principal in the Marshall school system, sued in 2021 after she said she had been discriminated against because she advocated on behalf of LGBTQ students. She said she faced opposition after ordering a Pride flag hung on the walls of the school cafeteria, and after she helped students establish a Gay‐Straight Alliance.
Schiltz, in his judgment, accepted that Thomas, after her advocacy, was disciplined via suspension, asked to resign and eventually assigned to an administrative position — created just for her — in a small, windowless office.
However, Thomas, as a “straight, cisgender woman,” falls outside of the categories protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Schiltz argued. Title VII protects employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
“Thomas was discriminated against because of what she advocated, not because of her sex — because of what she said, not because of who she is,” he wrote in his judgment.
He also said that Thomas could not provide an example of a specific instance of anti-LGBTQ discrimination. Her advocacy against bigotry present in broader society was not protected by Title IX of the Civil Rights Act. Title IX aims to prevent discrimination in education, the judge said.
Jeremy Williams, school superintendent for Marshall, welcomed the court’s decision, calling it “well-reasoned” in an emailed statement.
Record store Electric Fetus, a mainstay of Minneapolis’ music scene since 1968, started carrying K-pop albums around 2020, said Jim Novak, the store’s music buyer. Now, nestled between R&B CDs and electronic vinyl albums, a K-pop end cap offers a few hundred physical records, less than 10% of the 3,000 physical albums offered in the store, according to Novak.
“It’s currently driving a whole different generation of people into our shop,” Novak said.
Novak appreciates the thought put into K-pop physical releases. Each album takes a different shape: a classic CD case, a thick cardboard box or even a notepad. These different forms make it fit best as its own end cap, he said.
Novak, who designed the section, said he is still learning what the genre means to its fans. When he sees a young group flip through the CDs, he can’t help but feel excited.
“It is really encouraging to see young people be so into physical media,” he said.
K-pop albums often come in different shapes, sizes and formats, encouraging a new interest in physical merchandise. (Ayrton Breckenridge/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Sweet Escape opened in 2022 in the Maplewood Mall and often brings Twin Cities K-pop fans together through events hosted at the mall’s Center Court.
