Bestselling author Steven Galloway accused the administration of the University of British Columbia of making up excuses to fire him in order to protect the school’s reputation after a former student accused him of sexual assault and harassment.
asserted
student → accuse → assault
Mr. Galloway told the B.C. Supreme Court Tuesday that the university’s administration provided him with a “laundry list” of reasons for his dismissal in 2016, but apart from the extramarital affair with the student in his creative-writing program, those reasons remain secret.
asserted
reasons → tell → program
His lawyers won a pre-trial motion this summer to keep the majority of his termination letter confidential, but Justice Neena Sharma is expected to weigh in Wednesday on a new motion by the counsel for the defendants to gain access to the redacted rationale for his firing.
asserted
defendants → win → firing
During the second week of the defamation trial Mr. Galloway has been pursuing for eight years, the former chair of UBC’s creative-writing program testified under cross-examination that the allegations, levelled by the woman in November, 2015, were false and asserted his June, 2016, termination was under the auspices of the post-secondary institution trumping up other instances of his misconduct.
asserted
termination → pursue → misconduct
“You’re living in a world where UBC is an honourable, respectful, rule-following organization and you’re attempting to get me to engage with you as though that’s the case,” Mr. Galloway told Arden Beddoes, lead counsel for the woman known as A.B. due to a publication ban.
asserted
Galloway → live → ban
“I believe they’re about as corrupt an institution as you’re likely to find and whatever rules that exist, they’re likely to make them up as they go.”
asserted
they → believe → them
UBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon following Mr. Galloway’s testimony.
asserted
UBC → respond → testimony
A B.C. Supreme Court judge began hearing Mr. Galloway’s defamation trial last week against A.B. and three others.
asserted
judge → begin → A.B.
More than a dozen people originally named in his lawsuit have settled, including two UBC professors.
asserted
people → name → professors
Mr. Galloway acknowledged in court that a former judge hired by UBC to investigate A.B.’s claims found he had sexually harassed her and found other instances of misconduct leading to his firing.
uncertain
he → acknowledge → firing
The court has heard the former judge did not find that he sexually assaulted the woman.
asserted
he → hear → woman
UBC’s announcement of a formal investigation of “serious allegations” involving Mr. Galloway in 2015 led to an online firestorm over Mr. Galloway’s right to due process versus the rights of his alleged victim.
asserted
announcement → involve → victim
UBC fired Mr. Galloway in 2016 without severance, but two years later, an arbitrator awarded him more than $220,000 in two separate awards for violating his privacy during the process of suspending and dismissing him.
asserted
arbitrator → fire → him
He was never charged with a crime and in 2018 he launched his defamation suit, arguing the defendants repeated claims online that he had sexually assaulted a student.
uncertain
he → charge → student
On Tuesday, Mr. Beddoes showed the court a copy of Mr. Galloway’s termination letter and noted that the second, third, fourth and fifth pages were entirely redacted after Mr. Galloway’s lawyers secured an order this summer to keep the letter secret.
asserted
lawyers → show → letter
Mr. Galloway’s lawyers argued the letter was unrelated to the core allegations of sexual assault levelled by A.B.
Mr. Galloway conceded that he violated school policy and some of his conduct was “unprofessional, unethical,” and did not meet his standards or that of a UBC faculty member.
asserted
some → argue → member
But, he testified, he shouldn’t have been fired for his actions.
asserted
he → testify → actions
“Insofar as I was made aware at this time, there had been two tenured faculty members terminated in the recent decade: myself and the guy who stole millions of dollars from a First Nations dental clinic,” he testified.
asserted
he → make → clinic
Lawyers for the defendants have argued Justice Sharma should allow Mr. Galloway’s termination letter to be made public so he can be cross-examined about his actions.
asserted
he → argue → actions
Justice Sharma reserved her decision.
asserted
Sharma → reserve → decision
She is also expected to rule this week on a Globe and Mail application to get access to an exhibit detailing A.B.’s draft negligence lawsuit against UBC for up to $3-million, which was brought up in court last week.
asserted
which → expect → court
On Friday, Mr. Galloway testified there was no official prohibition on sexual relationships between students and faculty, and that he knows of “numerous instances” of similar relationships in the university’s faculty of arts.
asserted
he → testify → arts
He testified that “absent A.B.’s sex assault allegations nobody had any reason to think negatively” about him.
asserted
nobody → testify → him
Mr. Beddoes and counsel for two of the other three defendants argued Tuesday that’s not the case.
asserted
that → argue → defendants
The Aporia
