As national attention remains fixed on Notre Dame, the university’s administration is refusing to retract its appointment of Susan Ostermann—an abortion advocate and professor in the Keough School of Global Affairs—to direct the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies beginning in July.
This decision comes after a regular meeting of the university’s Board of Trustees took place from February 4-5 in Naples, Florida. Sources familiar with the matter told the National Review that they expected Ostermann’s appointment would come up in discussion.
The university’s January 8 announcement of the appointment has appeared in national media in recent weeks, receiving coverage from Fox News, National Review, EWTN, and the National Catholic Register.
As previously reported by the Rover, Ostermann has authored eleven articles condemning the pro-life movement and advocating for increased abortion access, calling abortion “freedom-enhancing” and arguing that it “saves women’s lives.”
According to the Keough School’s press announcement of the appointment, Ostermann also serves as a consultant for the Population Council, a nonprofit organization that advocates for abortion access and contraception, particularly in more rural, global communities such as China and India.
The Rover received the first public statement from the university concerning Ostermann’s appointment on January 28, in which a university spokesperson described her as a “deeply committed educator … well prepared to expand the Institute’s global partnerships and create impactful research opportunities that advance our dedication to serving as the preeminent global Catholic research institution.”
A university spokesperson confirmed to the Rover that Notre Dame has not changed its position, as of February 8.
Ostermann told the National Catholic Register on January 29 that she is “fully committed to maintaining an environment of academic freedom where a plurality of voices can flourish.” She continued, saying, “[M]y role is to support the diverse research of our scholars and students, not to advance a personal political agenda.”
Two faculty fellows at the university have since severed ties with the Liu Institute in protest of Ostermann’s appointment, as first reported by the National Catholic Register on February 4.
Robert Gimello, a research professor emeritus in the theology department and a historian of Buddhism, told the Register that “[c]ontinued formal association” with an institute under the direction of Ostermann was “simply unconscionable … regardless of whatever considerable talents and accomplishments the appointee might otherwise bring to the job.”
Gimello explained his objections to Ostermann, describing her as “a scholar who has repeatedly, publicly, and adamantly proclaimed her opposition to (verging at times, it seems to me, on contempt for) the Catholic Church’s firm teaching that protection and nourishment of human life, from the moment of conception until natural death, is a sacred duty incumbent upon the whole human community.”
“I doubt that anyone so hostile to, or dismissive of, those views—as this newly appointed person seems clearly to be—even if she were to try to muffle her hostility, could do justice to Notre Dame’s properly Catholic endeavors in and about Asia,” Gimello continued. “I fear now that this appointment will suggest to our Asian associates, and to scholars of Asia at other institutions here and abroad, that Notre Dame is deeply at odds with the Church that it claims to represent in the realms of higher education.”
Professor of Law and Global Affairs Diane Desierto also announced her resignation as a fellow from the Liu Institute, citing Pope Leo XIV’s recent words on abortion in her LinkedIn post. In an address on January 31, the pontiff declared, “Only those who care for the least among us are capable of accomplishing what is truly great.”
The pope stressed the importance of safeguarding the gift of peace, quoting Mother Teresa’s words at the United States National Prayer Breakfast in 1994, where she called abortion “the greatest destroyer of peace.”
“No policy,” Pope Leo said, “can genuinely serve the people if it denies the unborn the gift of life, or if it neglects to support those in need, whether in their material circumstances or in their spiritual distress.”
Notre Dame students have been vocal about the appointment’s controversy, as well. In a February 3 Letter to the Editor published by The Observer, the Notre Dame Right to Life Executive Board declared that Ostermann was “unfit” to serve as director of the Liu Institute and called on the university to rescind the appointment.
In response, senior and global affairs major Aliana Reed penned a February 10 Letter to the Editor in The Observer titled, “Ostermann makes Notre Dame great.” Reed argued that Ostermann, as an “accomplished scholar,” is “undeniably qualified” for the position. The Keough student wrote that a “diversity of experiences and backgrounds is what makes a global university, and part of what makes Notre Dame great.”
Freshman Grayson Beckham also published an opinion piece in The Observer on February 10, writing, “I don’t quite understand why the Liu Institute director should be required to pass an ideological and religious purity test to lead a non-theological institute at a school committed to fostering freedom of expression and academic belief.”
No information about the Trustees’ meeting or their decision has been released as of publication. A source familiar with the matter declined to comment, telling the Rover that the agenda and discussion content were both “strictly confidential.”
Lucy Spence is a junior from McLean, Virginia majoring in the Program of Liberal Studies and piano performance, with a minor in philosophy. She can be reached at lspence@nd.edu.