A defendant in Steven Galloway’s defamation lawsuit has testified how unproven allegations of rape and sexual assault against the author and writing professor came to light in late 2015 against a backdrop of criticism over how Galloway’s employer, the University of British Columbia, was handling such complaints.
Glynnis Kirchmeier, a former graduate student who is representing herself at the B.C. Supreme Court trial, outlined her involvement in calls for the university to improve processes for complaints of sexual misconduct, including contacting David Eby years before he became premier.
Kirchmeier told the court she reached out to Eby, the legislator for the riding where the university is located, about separate allegations of sexual assault and harassment in the history department.
She says Eby wrote to university officials in November 2015, only days before the allegations against Galloway emerged publicly, expressing concern over the safety of students on campus and how the school responded to misconduct claims.
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Kirchmeier has testified that Galloway’s accuser, a woman known as A.B., later called her in the spring of 2016, after an investigation by a retired judge hired by UBC found the assault claims against Galloway unsubstantiated.
Kirchmeier says she and A.B. mostly discussed their experiences with the university and its equity office, though the woman also told her she’d felt coerced into a sexual relationship with Galloway, and she believed her.
Galloway denies the assault claims, and says they ruined his career.
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A.B., whose name is subject to a publication ban, later shared with her “something about choking, going together with raping,” Kirchmeier said.
“I ultimately felt that consent is a state of mind of a victim and she was telling me that wasn’t a good relationship for her,” Kirchmeier said. “So I believed her.”
Galloway is seen at his former UBC office in March 2014. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
Kirchmeier later agreed under cross-examination by Galloway’s lawyer, Daniel Coles, that she did not have a specific memory of A.B. using the word “rape.”
“It must have happened, but I don’t remember it,” she said.
The university fired Galloway, the former chair of its creative writing program and author of novels including The Cellist of Sarajevo.
He is suing A.B., Kirchmeier and others, alleging they defamed him by publishing the unproven claims on social media and elsewhere.
The court learned last month that A.B. was no longer asserting in her defence that Galloway assaulted her, rather that she reported he had done so.
Galloway’s accuser is not testifying in the trial, citing mental health struggles.
UBC hired retired judge Mary Ellen Boyd to look into the allegations against Galloway and she found the assault claims unsubstantiated.
Kirchmeier agreed under cross-examination that she’d written an email calling Boyd a “shill,” saying “the university hired her to find that it had no liability.”
Coles asked Kirchmeier if she meant Boyd was hired for a predetermined outcome.
“Yes,” she replied.
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A Twitter post dating back to 2018, which Kirchmeier has admitted to writing, is the focus of Galloway’s allegation of defamation against her.
In his testimony earlier in the trial, Galloway recalled becoming nauseated by one of her tweets and wondering “why is this person I’ve never met calling me a rapist?”
Justice Neena Sharma noted Tuesday that Kirchmeier has argued Galloway’s pleading is improper, saying “she used the phrase, I think — and I’m paraphrasing — sexual harasser-slash-rapist.”
Kirchmeier told the court she used a slash “to signify alternatives.”
She closed her case Tuesday, and the trial is set to continue on Friday.
