Author Steven Galloway no longer employed at UBC following 'record of misconduct' - Action News
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British Columbia

Author Steven Galloway no longer employed at UBC following 'record of misconduct'

Acclaimed author Steven Galloway is no longer employed at the University of British Columbia following a months-long investigation into what the university calls "a record of misconduct that resulted in an irreparable breach of trust."

Vancouver novelist is acclaimed author of The Cellist of Sarajevo

Steven Galloway will discuss his new book The Confabulist with singer/songwriter John K. Samson at 7 p.m. on Thursday May 15 at McNally Robinson books.
Steven Galloway, an acclaimed author and former head of UBC's Creative Writing program, is no longer with the university, UBC said in a statement, Friday. (Frances Raud)

Acclaimed authorSteven Galloway is no longer employed at the University of BritishColumbiafollowing a months-longinvestigation into what the university calls "a record of misconduct that resulted in an irreparable breach of trust."

The Giller Prize-nominated author and tenured associate professorwas suspended with pay from his post as chair ofUBC's creative writing program last November due to what the university called "serious allegations."

The nature of the allegations, and the "additional complaints" that UBC now says it has received, havestill not been made public.

In November, UBC was criticized by its faculty association for announcing the suspension, saying the university violated Galloway's privacy.

The University of B.C. was criticized for making Galloway's suspension public last November, and says it is balancing the community's need for information with the privacy of complainants and respondents. (Christer Waara/CBC)

'Breach of trust'

Former B.C. Supreme Court justice Mary Ellen Boyd has been investigating theallegations since November, the university's vice-president of external relations, Philip Steenkamp, said in a statement.

The university has received "additional complaints" since the suspension.

Boyd delivered a report to the dean ofartsin Apriland Galloway "did not dispute any of the critical findings," said Steenkamp.

The university's interim president, Martha Piper, met with Galloway earlier this month, according to the statement.

"The president concluded that there was a record of misconduct that resulted in an irreparable breach of trust placed in faculty members by the university, its students and the general public," Steenkamp wrote.

Piper made her recommendation to the university's board of governors yesterdayand Galloway is "no longer employed" at UBC.

UBC is not commenting further, saying it must balance the "community's need for information ... [with] the personal privacy of both complainants and respondents."

Galloway is best known for his international bestseller The Cellist of Sarajevo, which was longlisted for the Giller Prize in 2008. He is also the author of Finnie Walsh, Ascension, and The Confabulist, which was shortlisted for the 2014 Rogers Writers Trust Fiction Prize.

Galloway has not responded to a request for comment from CBC News.