Mary Gallagher, the dean of the university’s Keough School of Global Affairs, wrote in an email on Feb. 26 that Professor Susan Ostermann “has decided not to move forward as director” of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies.
Gallagher said she was “grateful for [Ostermann’s] willingness to serve and for the thoughtfulness with which she approached this decision,” according to the email, a copy of which was obtained by EWTN News.
Ostermann in the announcement said the “focus on my appointment risks overshadowing the vital work the institute performs, which it should be allowed to pursue without undue distraction.”
She claimed that it was “clear that there is work to do at Notre Dame to build a community where a variety of voices can flourish.”
The Notre Dame Observer first reported the news on Feb. 26.
The announcement comes after weeks of mounting criticism against the university following Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, Bishop Kevin Rhoades’ statement calling for the school to drop the appointment.
The school had announced Ostermann’s appointment as director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies in early January. Gallagher at the time described Ostermann as an “exceptional scholar and a deeply engaged teacher” and an “outstanding choice” to lead the institute.
On Feb. 11, Rhoades in a statement expressed “dismay” and “strong opposition” to the appointment, arguing that the school’s decision was “causing scandal to the faithful of our diocese and beyond.”
The bishop pointed to Ostermann’s well-documented public support of abortion, as well as her sometimes-caustic criticism of the pro-life movement, which she has at times linked to racism and misogyny.
Her beliefs on abortion “go against a core principle of justice that is central to Notre Dame’s Catholic identity and mission,” Rhoades said.
Rhoades’ statement was quickly backed by multiple U.S. prelates. Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila; Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, Bishop Robert Barron; San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone; Green Bay, Wisconsin, Bishop David Ricken; and several others praised Rhoades’ remarks and called on Notre Dame to rescind the appointment.
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops President Archbishop Paul Coakley also urged the school to back down, arguing that Ostermann “openly stands against Catholic teaching when it comes to the sanctity of life, in this case protection of the unborn.”
As late as Feb. 8, the university was still refusing to rescind Ostermann’s appointment. The school told the Irish Rover that it had “not changed its position” on Ostermann’s leadership of the department.
In the interim, two scholars announced their disaffiliation with the school, with professors Robert Gimello and Diane Desierto both citing Ostermann’s appointment as their reason for leaving.
Former sociology professor Christian Smith in a Feb. 13 essay at First Things also revealed he had left the school; though he said he left the university “at the end of 2025,” before the Ostermann controversy erupted, he wrote that Notre Dame’s leaders are “equivocal about [the school’s] Catholic mission and make decisions and pursue practices that undermine it.”
By 
Ostermann said this: “focus on my appointment risks overshadowing the vital work the institute performs”
Who is this person kidding? Such an over-inflated view of their lofty contribution to society. Just how important is your work Dr. Ostermann if you were willing to support the killing of defenseless and vulnerable persons in the womb to secure this position? No one is loosing any sleep about this so-called “Institute”.
As far as Notre Dame is concerned, they’re a morally corrupt and bankrupt institution as far as the Catholic faith is concerned. All they have going for it is a football program. What a disgrace they are. I wouldn’t send my dog there.
Thank you Deacon, excellent statement.
The patched elbow crowd is long on self-importance.
I wish I could short colleges and universities. The culling of the weak is going to be an epic collapse.
Roger, that.
Dear Deacon Edward Peitler: you have spoken what millions of good Catholics believe. What a scandal!
Now is the time for Rome to initiate a full-scale enquiry into the senior management of Notre Dame and into those responsible for staff recruitment; with the fearless intent of rooting-out all who are anti-Apostolic.
Ever seeking to hear & follow King Jesus Christ; love & blessings from marty
The buck stops here:
Trustees
John B. Veihmeyer, Chair
Rev. José E. Ahumada F., C.S.C.
Carlos J. Betancourt
John J. Brennan
John J. Coyle
John F. Crowley
Scott A. Dahnke
Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C.
James J. Dunne III
James F. Flaherty III
Lois K. Folger
Stephanie A. Gallo
Tracy D. Graham
Rev. Daniel G. Groody, C.S.C.
Rev. Gregory P. Haake, C.S.C.
Nathan O. Hatch
Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.
Tanya M. Kne
Kathryn A. Koch
Rev. William M. Lies, C.S.C.
Justin R. Liu
Rev. Thomas P. Looney, C.S.C.
Thomas G. Maheras
Ryan M. McInerney
Danielle W. Merfeld
Catherine A. Molnar
Michael G. O’Grady
James C. Parsons
Paulita A. Pike
J. Christopher Reyes
Kenneth C. Ricci
Clare Stack Richer
Martin W. Rodgers
Raul R. Romero
Shayla Keough Rumely
Jennifer F. Scanlon
Byron O. Spruell
Phyllis W. Stone
Anne E. Thompson
Sara Martinez Tucker
Ah-MEN❤️
There will be a plethora (one of my favorite words) of virtue-signaling, which is to be expected in cases like this.
BUT
We won
Pray a (quiet) Rosary of thanks
She will just be allowed to do what she was going to do under the table.
How sad that an institution that makes claims to being “Catholic” would hire a pro-abortion person for any reason.
You should talk to some of employees working at Catholic hospitals.
A good outcome, but it should not have taken all of this for a Catholic university to come to this outcome.
John, I was curious that it was the professor herself who removed herself from the position and not the university retracting the offer. There is a story there, but I agree that the fact this has come to an end is what is most important.
John, it’s not a good outcome. Satan has just temporarily retreated, has gone underground and is preparing for the next occasion to destroy Christ and His Church. Christians are too easily fooled by the strategies of Satan.
And the follow-up will be ?
The chosen one chose to not accept the position.The leadership that chose the pro-abortion candidate is still steadfast in putting people with anti-catholic views in positions of leadership. This is where the problem is. The leadership of Catholic colleges demanded way back in 69 that they be given free rein to run the universities as they see fit. They have and still do and now the words Catholic College are meaningless
Ragnar: Not entirely meaningless. Thankfully there are still faithful Catholic colleges. Catholics need to vote with their wallets and send their kids to those schools that strive to be faithful!
Check out the Newman Guide: https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/
What does it say about the Notres when their pro-death candidate has more compunction about her appointment than they do.
The fact that they have nothing to say about this colossal fiasco speaks volumes.
We’ll never know for sure, but this sort of maneuver is used in corporate and government circles all the time. A candidate or even an encumberment becomes “problematic” and he or she receives the “opportunity” to step down under the guise of sacrificing personal ambition for organizational good, preserving future viability.
My guess is there was enough donors that caused enough concern that she got a call and was asked to take one for the team.
Imagine if the person they sought to appoint were an openly racist advocate of racially based eugenics. That individual would — rightly and without hesitation — be decisively rejected by the University of Notre Dame community. There would be no hand-wringing about “academic nuance,” no appeals to tolerance, no institutional silence. The moral line would be clear.
Yet when a professor forcefully and publicly advocates for ending the life of a pre-born child, the response is too often excuses, euphemisms, silence, or even applause. That stark inconsistency reveals how profoundly abortion has been normalized — and its moral seriousness dulled in our society, including within institutions that explicitly claim a Catholic identity. This is not mere disagreement over policy; it is a fundamental contradiction of core moral principles. Incidents like this expose just how comfortable many have become with what the Church unequivocally teaches to be the taking of innocent human life.
The professor, however wrong her views are, is entitled to hold and express her opinions. But integrity cuts both ways. It is reasonable to ask whether someone who actively opposes the foundational moral teachings of an institution should choose to represent it. More importantly, the burden rests on ND itself. If it is to remain authentically Catholic rather than Catholic in name only, it must have the clarity, conviction, and institutional courage to defend its mission in more than marketing materials. Declining to hire someone, and certainly to promote to a leadership position, whose public advocacy directly contradicts its stated Catholic foundations is not intolerance – it is fidelity to identity.
Ostermann said…it was… the “clear that there is work to do at Notre Dame to build a community where a variety of voices can flourish.”
Ostermann clearly does not perceive her irony. A “variety” of voices will never flourish when squelched before they begin to scream or to form a word.
Ostermann’s type of misanthroic varity has been and continues to be well represented in American Catholic universities. Her vision obviously is blind to the black and misshapen buds and blossoms trees like hers have been putting forth for far too many years. It is time to PRUNE.
Only a cloud of evil overshadows this professor’s tenure at Notre Dame, and that has not been stopped. She remains a professor there. I am imploring to either change the college’s name and/or remove the Catholic identity.
She claimed that it was “clear that there is work to do at Notre Dame to build a community where a variety of voices can flourish.”
There is only one voice to flourish at a Catholic University – God’s!
This matter will only be settled when:
#1. The professor acknowledges that her moral stand on abortion has been wrong all along and
#2 The administration of Notre Dame University acknowledges that they have been remiss is hiring faculty who promote morality that flagrantly violates the teachings of the Catholic faith.
Until this happens, wexare left only with window-dressing and subterfuge. The evil has just gone back underground.