An outspoken abortion advocate will not assume the directorship of an academic institute at the University of Notre Dame, following widespread condemnation of the appointment by students, university donors, and bishops.
Susan Ostermann, a researcher and professor at the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, had been announced as the incoming director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies within the Keough School, and was due to assume the role in July.
However, in an email to faculty Feb. 26, the dean of the Keough School informed said that Ostermann had “decided not to move forward as director” of the institute, following widespread criticism of her appointment.
Announcing her decision not to go forward in the role, Dean Mary Gallagher praised Ostermann as a “respected scholar of South Asian politics and regulatory governance whose research and teaching reflect the intellectual rigor and interdisciplinary excellence at the heart of both the Liu Institute and the Keough School of Global Affairs.”
“I am grateful for her willingness to serve and her thoughtfulness in approaching this decision,” Gallagher said.
Sources close to the university told The Pillar that public opposition to Ostermann’s promotion to lead the Liu Institute had come from students and faculty, as well as a number of bishops from around the country, led by local Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, but also privately from trustees and major benefactors of the university, including of the Liu Institute itself.
One senior member of the university community described donors as “livid” in response to Ostermann’s appointment as director, announced in January.
Multiple sources close to the university’s senior administration also told The Pillar that the appointment — and reaction to it — had caught Notre Dame president Fr. Robert Dowd “completely by surprise” and that he had not been aware of Ostermann’s promotion or its likely significance to the university community and public image.
Sources close to the president’s office told The Pillar that Dowd had been “blindsided” by the strength of opposition to Ostermann’s nomination and the number of serving bishops who had contacted his office to voice their concerns. “And it was many more [bishops] than made their names public,” said one university source. In addition to the bishops who spoke out publicly against the appointment, nearly a dozen others raised private objections to Dowd, sources said.
The same sources said that the appointment had been passed by the office of the university provost, John McGreevy, who did not raise concerns about Ostermann’s nomination.
Ostermann has worked as a professor at Notre Dame since 2017, her appointment to a position of leadership prompted widespread backlash, due to her extensive record of advocating vocally for legal abortion and her criticism of the pro-life movement.
Among the objections to Ostermann’s appointment, two professors affiliated with the Liu Institute resigned in protest, and the university’s Right to Life executive board called for the appointment to be rescinded.
Ostermann, a public advocate of legal abortion has written or co-written numerous op-eds on the subject in recent years, defending abortion as critical for the freedom and wellbeing of women, and criticizing pregnancy help centers as deceptive and pro-life laws as oppressive.
In one instance in 2022, the previous university president, Fr. John Jenkins CSC wrote an open letter to the Chicago Tribune disavowing Ostermann’s views and distancing the university from them, while also defending the principle of academic freedom.
Ostermann has said that abortion respects the dignity of women and that laws against abortion “have their roots in white supremacy and racism,” and has made the argument that abortion is consistent with “integral human development,” a Catholic social principle cited by Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs as foundational in its work.
Ostermann also serves as a consultant for the Population Council, an international group that advocates for abortion and contraception overseas.
In a statement earlier this month, South Bend Bishop Kevin Rhoades called Ostermann’s appointment to lead the Liu Institute a “scandal,” while voicing his “dismay” and “strong opposition” to it.
In addition to highlighting the concerns of students, faculty, and the wider American Catholic community, Rhoades also took issue with the argument that Ostermann’s appointment was justified by the principle of academic freedom, saying “academic freedom concerns the liberty of faculty to conduct research according to their own professional judgment and interests.”
“This appointment, by contrast, concerns the official administrative appointment to lead an academic unit. Such appointments have profound impact on the integrity of Notre Dame’s public witness as a Catholic university,” Rhoades said.
The bishop called on university leadership to “rectify this situation.” He also led a prayer vigil in the grotto at Notre Dame for the Catholic identity of the university.