The rot in higher education runs wide and deep: Consider the case of Joe Gow, the now-former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse — removed from office after it was revealed he was posting X-rated videos of himself, his wife and even pro porn stars online.
This man is a public servant, with a whopping salary paid for by hardworking Wisconsinites; a chancellor at a major public research university, one with a deserved reputation for excellence.
This is how he repays the vast trust placed in him by the citizens of the Badger State, and the parents from all over the world who placed their kids under his care?
More worrying, it’s clear Gow enjoyed the frisson of being a prominent figure in education who dabbled in smut.
In a (pseudonymous) book he wrote with his wife and co-star, the randy couple noted they were “fairly certain a scandal would ensue if our peers were to know about what we’ve been doing.”
And Gow himself invited porn star Nina Hartley to a paid campus speaking gig, exactly the kind of coy but in-your-face behavior weirdos with respectable public personae engage in.
He knew it was wrong, in other words.
But hey, if it feels good, do it, right?
Gow’s case may seem unconnected to that of ousted UPenn President Liz Magill and (sadly) still employed Harvard head Claudine Gay, but all three were entrusted with the most important task imaginable, the education of the young — and all three proved utterly lacking in moral sense.
Gow’s a would-be porn star.
Israel War Update
Get the most important developments in the region, globally and locally.
Magill initially refused to condemn Hamas as terrorists after the Oct. 7 attacks and hemmed and hawed before Congress on whether calls for Jewish genocide violated her school’s code of conduct.
Gay followed the same cowardly track on the Israel war and looks to be a career-long serial plagiarist now under suspicion for data shenanigans.
Three faces of the same narcissistic nihilism.
And no wonder: They never pay any real price.
Gay, sadly, is still in her job as president of the world’s most prestigious university.
Magill got the boot — right into a cushy law school spot, still at Penn.
Gow’s getting the same faculty-gig treatment (though UW is reportedly reviewing his status as a tenured prof).
Magill’s ouster was a good first step.
But she should not be employed by any part of Penn.
Gay needs to go right now, never to enter the halls of academe again.
And Gow’s professorship should be yanked right out from under him.
Let him make a living on OnlyFans, if he’s so eager.
Until these moral vacuums meet real consequences, they will continue breaking the trust of parents, students and everyone else.