Steven Galloway (born July 13, 1975) is a Canadian novelist and a former professor at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of the award-winning novel The Cellist of Sarajevo (2008).
“Artistic expression about sexual assault and harassment, is the highest artistic expression.” – Joanna Birenbaum, one of A.B.’s lawyers.
Steven Galloway taught creative writing at the University of British Columbia for many years. He also taught writing at Simon Fraser University. In 2013 Galloway became a tenured associate professor at UBC, and served as acting chair of the creative writing program. In 2014 he published his fourth novel, The Confabulist.
In 2015 he was confirmed in the position of chair.
In November 2015, UBC announced that Galloway was suspended from his position with pay because allegations, which were not specified in the announcement, had been made against him.
(Those previous paragraphs, facts, are mostly pulled directly from Wiki. They sum it up nicely.)
“For nearly six [2015-2021] years now, UBC and those involved in destroying Galloway, all of whom have direct evidence that AB has lied to them, have fought to hide the true facts of the case while portraying Galloway as the central cause of it all. The facts do not support this. But the exculpatory facts were never needed before passing judgment and condemning Galloway as a rapist. All that was needed before passing judgment was the presumption of innocence, a fair investigation, and a commitment to respect the results of that investigation.“
Truth & Consequences – Anatomy Of An Allegation by Brad Cran
Adult Teachers and Adult Students
This case is particularly interesting and unfortunately ongoing. I have posted several other cases on this site, looking at how the MeToo fallout has opened up so many accusations, and in rare incidents convictions, but in all devastation of lives.
Steven Galloway, as a university staff member, admitted to having an affair with an adult university student, a woman older than him – the woman he was being accused by. She is only referred to as A.B. – being protected when frankly I don’t think she should be at this point, given the rulings.
As Christie Blatchford reported – Why shouldn’t she face the public? AB is OLDER than Steven Galloway. This wasn’t a case of older man and young student.
In November 2016, a large group of Canadian authors, including Margaret Atwood and Yann Martel, signed an open letter, written by Joseph Boyden, criticizing UBC for carrying out its investigation in secret and denying Galloway the right to due process. That letter, in of itself, caused a lot of uproar.
In 2018 the woman went on to do a show of her artwork, all of which seemed to be about Galloway.
In June 2018, after Justice Mary Ellen Boyd ruled, UBC was forced to pay Galloway $167,000 for violating his privacy rights and damaging his reputation. This was when the case first came on my radar.
In October 2018, Galloway filed a defamation lawsuit against the woman who accused him of sexual assault, along with 20 others who had spread the allegations on Twitter and within UBC, in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
On December 2, 2021, Justice Elaine Adair ruled that Galloway’s suit was not a SLAPP suit and allowed him to proceed to trial against all but two of the defendants. Of those who Adair ruled had defamed him, she found that each was motivated by malice.
You would think that would be the end of it, but the accuser – the older former mistress – appealed.
The case is still in the process of being argued. The lawyers are getting paid. I suggest you head over to Brad Cran’s Substack – Truth & Consequences to keep up to date if you want to follow this one.
Uploaded September 16, 2023