UBC professor testifies she approved incomplete thesis after pressure from senior colleague
In a defamation trial involving author Steven Galloway, UBC creative-writing professor Annabel Lyon said she regrets signing off on a graduate thesis that was not finished, after being urged by a senior faculty member.
University of British Columbia creative-writing professor Annabel Lyon told the British Columbia Supreme Court that she approved a graduate student’s incomplete thesis after a senior colleague asked her to do so. Lyon, now director of UBC’s creative-writing program, said she read only a few pages of the half-completed novel before signing the approval, with the condition that the student submit the full manuscript for further feedback – a step the student never took.
Lyon testified that the department had no clear policy on what constituted a complete thesis at the time, and she later drafted guidelines to prevent a repeat of the situation. She added that she felt pressured by fellow professor Keith Maillard, who had given the student an A+ for the unfinished work and told her, “She needs to be finished, she needs to complete her degree.”
The testimony is part of a defamation case filed by bestselling author Steven Galloway, who denies the sexual-harassment and assault allegations made by the student, identified only as A.B. under a publication ban. Galloway was suspended and later dismissed from his role as head of UBC’s creative-writing program in 2016 after an internal investigation found he had sexually harassed the student, though it could not establish assault on the balance of probabilities.
Lyon also said she sent an email to university administrators after a public letter supporting Galloway’s due-process rights was published, expressing a desire to give a “human face” to the university’s response and to reassure students who had complained. The court heard that the university had awarded the student a $30,000 post-graduation bursary, which it later determined she was not entitled to receive.
Most of the defendants in Galloway’s lawsuit have settled, but the case continues with A.B. remaining as a defendant. The judge denied a media request to view an exhibit related to a draft claim the student allegedly intended to file against the university for $3 million.