The Harrad Experiment was a 1973 motion picture about a fictional college whose curricula espoused free love and partner-swapping. I remember seeing it during HBO’s late-night broadcasts, where you could see all the voyeuristic content right there in the comfort of your own living room.
Holy crap, that’s a young Don Johnson in the film.
Anyway … the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse is now dealing with its own Harrad experiment. Sort of.
In 2007, the university hired communications professor Dr. Joe Gow as its Chancellor. And although Joe Gow’s tenure would seem as normal as any college or university president or chancellor, there were a few eyebrow-raising moments. In 2018, Gow invited adult film star Nina Hartley to campus as part of a symposium on free speech – an act for which he received a reprimand for the school’s Board of Regents.
Over this last weekend, however, Gow was removed from his Chancellor position by the Board of Regents, due to his personal involvement in a series of adult movies. This article from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel explains the situation. Gow and his wife, Carmen Wilson – who also held a paid collegiate position as Gow’s Chief of Staff – made a series of hardcore porn videos under the pseudonym “Sexy Happy Couple,” and also have their own OnlyFans channel for their more explicit filmed encounters.
Not only did the university remove Gow and Wilson from their positions on campus, they’re also revoking his tenure. Meanwhile, Gow argues that what he and his wife are doing in their spare time constitutes free speech, which protects them under the First Amendment.
You know this is going to get rewritten as an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit next year, right?
So … I get it. Free speech is free speech. I could, for example, use my blog to suggest that Miracle Whip is superior to mayonnaise. You might not like my saying it, but it’s true. Let me go further. Pineapples on pizza. Two spaces after a period.
But that “free speech” applies primarily to government. The government can not prohibit free speech.
The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, however, is a private institution, and news like this could completely cripple any fundraising or grants or donations to the school. And if Dr. Gow and/or his wife signed any sort of morality clause in their hiring contracts, then the school would be within their right to consider their options.
That being said, I’m not suggesting that the Gows get branded with scarlet A’s and locked in the pillories. They are having sex. Many people have sex. They are married. Married people have sex. They are consenting adults. Consenting adults have sex. And from what I understand, it’s just the two of them in the videos, there’s no underage participants or visible drug use or physical abuse or anything of that nature.
But as it is right now … this is a rather titillating story to start the New Year.
It’s almost like reading the letters page at Penthouse Forum. You know … the letters that always start, “I never thought this would happen to me, but …”
Chuck The Writer 
Happy new year 🎂🎂
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