Simone Lueck for BI
As I'm eating roti in a booth with Joe Gow and his wife, Carmen Wilson, a man in a baseball cap approaches our table. As chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse for 17 years, Gow is as close to royalty as this Midwestern town gets. Six-foot-four and gray-haired, sporting an ever present gold chain, he was often approached by adoring students for selfies. But when I look into the man's eyes, there is a glint of aggression.
"I was an academic for 12 years, and I always kept it in my pants," the man says.
Gow laughs, startled by the man's directness. But the stranger isn't finished. "There's a bunch of people who are very ashamed your signature is on their diploma," he says.