Galloway defamation trial hears of ‘inflated and outrageous’ email rhetoric

VANCOUVER – A former creative writing student testifying in author and former UBC professor Steven Galloway’s defamation trial says she was “shocked” and “horrified” at language used in a mass email by a fellow student investigating misconduct allegations against Galloway. 

Cara Woodruff, a UBC creative writing graduate, says in the ongoing trial of Galloway’s defamation lawsuit that she received an email in November 2015 from Chelsea Rooney, who had been tasked with collecting complaints against Galloway but has now apologized for spreading unproven allegations against him.

Woodruff says the email from Rooney contained “inflated and outrageous” rhetoric and urged recipients to anonymously contact a reporter from The Canadian Press about allegations against Galloway.

She says she did not believe an allegation by another former student known as A.B. that Galloway sexually assaulted her, and she kept asking A.B. to go to the police to have it investigated “properly.”

Woodruff says in her testimony to the B.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday she felt “blindsided” learning of the allegations because she had been friends with A.B., and it “was very unclear” to Woodruff if there was a criminal investigation.

A.B. is not testifying in the trial, and the court has heard she is not asserting in her defence that the allegations she made against Galloway are true.

Rooney issued a public apology to Galloway this month, days before the trial began.

She said she understood her conduct toward him was “serious and harmful,” saying she deeply regretted “contributing to the harm Mr. Galloway has suffered.”

Galloway, the author of novels including “The Cellist of Sarajevo” and “The Confabulist” was a tenured professor and the chair of the creative writing program at UBC.

He was never charged over the allegations by A.B., whose name cannot be reported due to a publication ban, though he was fired from his job. 

Rooney said in her apology that she had been asked by UBC, A.B. and faculty members to gather complaints against Galloway, but she had “no information” that the “very serious and unproven allegations” against Galloway were true.

Woodruff had sought to have her name suppressed at the trial, but her request was denied. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2026.