(OSV News) — A professor at the University of Notre Dame has declined a research appointment at the school, following weeks of outcry from students, staff and several U.S. Catholic bishops, over her prominent advocacy for abortion.
Susan Ostermann, associate professor in the Keough School of Global Affairs, has “decided not to move forward” as director of that school’s Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, said Keough Dean Mary Gallagher in a Feb. 26 email.
Ostermann — who specializes in the study of regulatory compliance, comparative politics and environmental regulation, with a focus on South Asia — will remain a member of the Keogh School’s faculty.
The development was announced Feb. 26 by The Observer, the independent student newspaper of Notre Dame, St. Mary’s College and Holy Cross College.
Gallagher said she was “grateful” for Ostermann’s “willingness to serve and for the thoughtfulness with which she approached this decision.”
Backlash following Ostermann’s appointment announcement earlier this year
Ostermann’s appointment, announced Jan. 8, was set to take effect July 1, and quickly drew fire from Notre Dame faculty and staff due to her robust public endorsement of legal abortion. She had also worked as a consultant for the Population Council, an international research and policy firm that works to advance “sexual and reproductive health, rights and choices” as a key aim.
At least two Notre Dame faculty members, professor Diane Desierto and emeritus professor Robert Gimello, resigned their roles at the Liu Institute in protest, according to The Observer.
Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, whose diocese includes the university, had issued a statement Feb. 11 expressing “dismay” and “strong opposition” to the university’s decision, which he said was “causing scandal to the faithful of our diocese and beyond.”
Ostermann’s “extensive public advocacy of abortion rights and her disparaging and inflammatory remarks about those who uphold the dignity of human life from the moment of conception to natural death go against a core principle of justice that is central to Notre Dame’s Catholic identity and mission,” said Bishop Rhoades, noting he had read many of the opinion pieces in which Ostermann had articulated her defense of abortion.
OSV News reached out to Bishop Rhoades and is awaiting a response.
Bishop Rhoades joined students in a rosary on campus to pray “for the cause of life” Jan. 24
Two days prior to Ostermann’s withdrawal, Bishop Rhoades joined some 50 students, faculty and staff gathered at the university’s Marian grotto to “pray together for the cause of life and respect for all human life.”
He said, “We pray for the University of Notre Dame, and we ask for the powerful intercession of our Blessed Mother as she looks over this campus.”
Notre Dame sophomore Luke Woodyard, one of the prayer gathering’s organizers, told OSV News the Ostermann appointment was “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
“It’s part of a long line of university action that’s just unacceptable,” he said. “So in the spirit of love and charity to our university, we want to come together as students and show that this is our voice, this is what we want.”
Woodyard described it as a “movement is to bring Notre Dame’s Catholic character back into focus in a real sense and put it on the front lines.
“Notre Dame loves to talk about their Catholic identity, their broad, vague feel-good term, but what does that actually mean, and how do we put that into action?” he said.
Woodyard said a planned student-led protest, the March on the Dome, is still moving forward for Friday, Feb. 27 at 6 p.m.
The University of Notre Dame acknowledged the student-led protest in a Feb. 24 message to OSV News and said, “We respect the perspectives of our students and their desire to be heard.”
Ostermann’s statement included in the Feb. 26 email
Its message stated that Ostermann was chosen to head the Liu Institute “for her expertise in Asian studies,” and that “she respects the University’s position on the sanctity of life, and that as director, she understands her role is to support the diverse research of the Institute’s scholars and students, not advance a personal political agenda.”
In a statement included with Gallagher’s Feb. 26 email announcing her withdrawal, Ostermann said her “only goal” in accepting the Liu directorship “was to serve as a steward for the Institute’s world-class faculty, students and staff.” Ostermann said she had not applied for the position, but was “truly honored to take on” the role.
“At present, the focus on my appointment risks overshadowing the vital work the Institute performs, which it should be allowed to pursue without undue distraction,” said Ostermann. “At the same time, it has become clear that there is work to do at Notre Dame to build a community where a variety of voices can flourish. Both academic inquiry and the full realization of human dignity demand this of us.”
The controversy over Ostermann’s appointment at a flagship Catholic university, given her prominent advocacy for abortion, echoed widely in the Church, extending even to the Vatican, with the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life responding to a question on the matter Feb. 17.
In one opinion piece, published by the Chicago Tribune in December 2022, Ostermann and former faculty colleague Tamara Kay (who left Notre Dame for the University of Pittsburgh, following outcry over her endorsement of legalized abortion) surveyed “lies about abortion” that have “dictated public policy.”
Among those lies, wrote Ostermann and Kay, was that “abortion kills babies.” They further asserted that “women who are denied an abortion experience a panoply of negative outcomes physically, mentally and occupationally,” and described crisis pregnancy centers as “anti-abortion rights propaganda sites” that “operate and provide false information to women who are lured to them believing they will receive legitimate medical care.”
Church teaching on abortion
The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, and as such, opposes direct abortion while advocating for life-affirming solutions for mothers and their children, before and after birth. Church officials in the U.S. have also called for strengthening social support for those living in poverty and other risk factors that can push women toward having an abortion.
The controversy over the now-declined appointment highlights the role of Catholic universities in the life of the Church, as delineated in St. John Paul II’s 1990 apostolic constitution, “Ex Corde Ecclesiae,” for which the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a particular application in 1999.
In their particular application, the U.S. bishops said they “want to maintain, preserve and guarantee the Catholic identity of Catholic higher education” as a shared responsibility with “sponsoring religious communities, boards of trustees, university administration, faculty, staff and students.”
Noting that “academic freedom is an essential component of a Catholic university,” the particular application also stresses the university — especially its trustees, administration, and faculty — “should take practical steps to implement its mission statement in order to foster and strengthen its Catholic nature and character.”
Holy Cross Father Wilson Miscamble, emeritus professor of history at Notre Dame, told OSV News he was “deeply pleased” by Ostermann’s decision to decline the Liu appointment, but added, “I recognize there is much work to do to uphold Notre Dame’s Catholic mission and identity.”
Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.
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