Canadian literary heavyweight Margaret Atwood says the way the University of British Columbia handled allegations against Steven Galloway was “flawed” and compared the process to the Salem witch trials.
In a pointed but brief editorial published by The Walrus magazine on Thursday, Atwood accuses UBC of creating “a big foggy mess.”
“Obviously the university was trying to shield students from something—we are still not clear as to what, exactly, and if it’s a matter of rape then it should be a matter of jail—but their methods appear to have resulted in a big foggy mess,” Atwood wrote.
“My position is that the UBC process was flawed and failed both sides, and the rest of my position is that the model of the Salem Witchcraft Trials is not a good one.”
Galloway was fired from his post as head of UBC’s creative writing department in June. A former judge was commissioned to investigate “serious allegations” brought forward against Galloway.
UBC has never clarified what allegations were brought forward, or the findings of their investigation. However, the Canadian Press has reported complaints from five people that included sexual harassment, bullying, threats and one instance of physical assault.
Galloway has not faced any charges in connection with the allegations.
“Did the university actually believe the claims—which those on the outside still don’t know much about—or was it scrambling around to protect itself, or both? Is it an endorsement of rape culture or a silencing of anyone to support the view that the university should take a good hard look at the way it handled this?” Atwood wrote.
She also suggested that some conversations around sexual abuse may require closer consideration.
“To take the position that the members of a group called ‘women’ are always right and never lie—demonstrably not true—and that members of a group called ‘accused men’ are always guilty—Steven Truscott, anyone?—would do a great disservice to accusing women and abuse survivors, since it discredits any accusations immediately.”
Atwood’s response comes two days after news broke of an open letter that she and dozens of other prominent Canadian writers – including Joseph Boyden, Yann Martel, Madeleine Thien and Lisa Moore – signed demanding an external investigation into how Galloway’s case was handled.
With files from The Canadian Press
