Professor Susan Ostermann “decided not to move forward as director” of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies.
By Catholics for Catholics
After a backlash by more than a dozen U.S. bishops criticizing Notre Dame’s choice to appoint a pro-abortion professor to a leadership position, she turned down the post.
The dean of the university’s Keough School of Global Affairs, Mary Gallagher, 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, according to a story by Fox News.
In a Thursday message obtained by Fox News Digital, Gallagher wrote, “Dear Keough School community, Today I would like to share that Professor Susan Ostermann, a member of the Keough School faculty who was recently appointed director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, has decided not to move forward as director.”
Gallagher also said, “Susan is 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 for the thoughtfulness with which she approached this decision.”
The controversy goes back to January, when the prominent Catholic university heard that Ostermann, who entered the university in 2017 as a global affairs professor, would start her phase as director of the Asian studies center in July.
But Ostermann’s appointment provoked stern disapproval from some quarters due to her vociferous support for abortion rights.
According to Sycamore Trust, an unofficial organization of Notre Dame alumni, at least 19 cardinals, archbishops and bishops disapproved of her appointment.
Sycamore Trust’s list includes Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who said, “I fully support Bishop Kevin Rhoades in his challenge to Notre Dame to rectify its poor judgment.”
The opposition list also included Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona–Rochester, who said, “I believe that going ahead with this appointment is repugnant to the identity and mission of that great center of Catholic learning.”
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