Pro-abortion professor backs off leadership appointment at Notre Dame after backlash

A pro-abortion professor at the University of Notre Dame is turning down a leadership appointment there after weeks of backlash that included more than a dozen U.S. bishops criticizing the school for its decision.

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.”

In a Feb. 26 statement, Rhoades said he was “grateful” to learn of Ostermann’s backing away from the position.

“The reason I opposed the appointment is because the appointment of persons to leadership positions at a Catholic university is an act of institutional witness, a mission-governance issue,” the bishop said, arguing that a Catholic university’s mission is “compromised” when it installs leaders who “act or speak against fundamental teachings of the Church.”

“This is not an issue about academic freedom or scholarly engagement,” the bishop said. “Academic freedom protects inquiry. It does not require institutional self-contradiction.”

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.”

Update: This story was updated with the Feb. 26 statement from Bishop Kevin Rhoades. (Published at 12:44 p.m. ET on Feb. 27, 2026)

Source: https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/notre-dame-appointment-ostermann-bishops-backlash