Controversial scholar withdraws from Notre Dame post [News Analysis]
February 27, 2026
A heated controversy at the University of Notre Dame has apparently been resolved, with Susan Ostermann, who had been appointed to head the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, announcing that she would not accept the post.
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Ostermann’s record of outspoken advocacy for legal abortion had outraged many students, alumni, and donors. Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, in whose diocese includes Notre Dame is located, had called for the appointment to be rescinded, and led students in a prayer service on campus earlier this week, and at least twenty other US bishops had joined him in condemning the appointment. Students had scheduled a massive “March on the Dome” to protest the choice.
In announcing her withdrawal, Ostermann acknowledged the difficulties that her appointment had created for Notre Dame’s administration. “At present,” she said, “the focus on my appointment risks overshadowing the vital work the Institute performs, which it should be allo0wed to pursue without undue distraction.” She remains a member of the Notre Dame faculty.
In a National Catholic Register report on Ostermann’s withdrawal, Jonathan Liedl writes that Father Robert Dowd, Notre Dame’s president, had been “blindsided” by the Ostermann appointment and had been engaged in talks with Bishop Rhoades, looking for a way to defuse the controversy. Although spokesmen for the university had insisted that the school would not back off the appointment, gentle pressure from the administration may have worked to secure Ostermann’s withdrawal.
-PFL
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