U of Wisconsin Condemns Chancellor’s Decision to Invite Porn Star to Lecture Students

The University of Wisconsin system is condemning one of its chancellors after he invited a porn star to campus to speak to students about sex as a part of “free speech week.”

University of Wisconsin-La Cross Chancellor Joe Gow received an official Letter of Reprimand from University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross over Gow’s decision to invite former porn star Nina Hartley to speak on campus during “free speech week.”

In the letter, Cross says that Gow should have exercised better judgment, specifically because he used the chancellor’s discretionary fund to pay for Hartley’s lecture.

Apart from my personal underlying moral concerns, I am deeply disappointed by your decision to actively recruit, advocate for, and pay for a porn star to come to the UW-La Crosse campus to lecture students about sex and the adult entertainment industry. While I understand and appreciate your commitment to freedom of expression and public discourse, as Chancellor, you need to exercise better judgment when dealing with matters such as these.

This is a fascinating case of university censorship because it flips the usual case on its head. The more common case of university censorship in the past few years goes something like this: A conservative commentator is invited to speak on campus. Progressive students have a meltdown. School administrators step in to either cancel or restrict the event. In this case, the speaker is a liberal-minded porn star and activist who has a history of advocating against the exact kind of puritanism that sparked the blowback against Gow.

And who is to say that Hartley’s lecture on sexual liberation is less worthy of the chancellor’s discretionary funds than a lecture by leftists like Bill Nye the Science Guy or comedienne Michelle Wolf? This is the whole point. Universities are supposed to be neutral arbiters of intellectual discussion. By chastising Gow for inviting Hartley to speak, the university is effectively taking a stance.

With that said, it seems like Nina Hartley is the perfect person to speak during a “free speech week,” the type of program that exists to promote the ideas that typically wouldn’t be welcomed with open arms on American campuses.