Another campus casualty

Is it a good thing that being honest about opinions at institutions of higher learning can get you fired?

Shouldn’t universities be the places where viewpoints, no matter how controversial, can be freely debated and explored?

Well, it doesn’t seem to be happening. I’m speaking, of course, of the recent firing of Joe Gow, the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, after he posted videos online of himself and his wife having sex.

This is both dumbfounding and amazing on many levels.

First off, the guy is 63. Clearly, he’s an inspiration to older people — he knows how to use the Internet!

Second, the guy is 63 and a university chancellor and he didn’t think there might be a reaction to this?

That’s less inspiring to us old people.

Third, he was fired for this?!? It’s not like he forced students, who of course would never otherwise be exposed to porn, to watch the videos. My guess is that most of them would rather not see an elderly couple going at it.

At least I don’t think so. I could be wrong.

Fourth, it’s not like the couple had an opinion on the Middle East or anything. The fake outrage is palpable.

According to news reports, the chancellor and his wife have been inspiring to students for years. The chancellor even invited a porn actress to talk to students some years ago.

The New York Times story about this, unfortunately, buried the lede (or maybe the second paragraph). You have to get all the way down to the second to last paragraph to find this:

“Over his nearly 17 years leading the roughly 10,000-student university along the Wisconsin-Minnesota border, Mr. Gow grew the school’s full-time undergraduate enrollment at a time when enrollment at other University of Wisconsin campuses declined significantly.”

There’s a key to promoting higher education here somewhere.

Turing failure? I look at a lot of strange press releases and pitches but one that showed in my email the other day definitely made me wonder. This is the entire text:

“Hi Milton,

“Am I correct that you are a Columnist and handle contract review for Courthouse News Service?

“I’m reaching out because 3 out of 4 in-house professionals said they want to leverage legal software more efficiently in handling contracts.

“Would a purpose built tool designed to reduce risk and increase efficiency of contract review be helpful?”

This was followed by a name that could have belonged to a human being. But would a human being believe columnists handle contract reviews?

I have my doubts.

The same person or thing sent me another email a few days later asking if I’d gotten the first one. I didn’t reply.

Let them wonder.

Meanwhile, I have a great idea for you software engineers out there: personal email Captcha. No message makes it into your inbox unless its sender can spot tractors.