(LifeSiteNews) — Following significant pressure from local Catholic ordinary Bishop Kevin Rhoades, along with other supporting American bishops, ardent pro-abortion Professor Susan Ostermann has resigned from her appointment by the University of Notre Dame administration to a significant leadership position.
According to The Observer, Ostermann “has decided not to move forward as director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies,” which was announced in an email by Mary Gallagher, who serves as dean of the Keough School.
“The decision came after mounting criticism for Ostermann’s abortion rights advocacy,” the independent student newspaper released in a post on X/Twitter.
In a statement Ostermann said, “At present, the focus on my appointment risks overshadowing the vital work the Institute performs, which should be allowed to continue without undue distraction.”
In a statement Ostermann said, “At present, the focus on my appointment risks overshadowing the vital work the Institute performs, which should be allowed to continue without undue distraction.”
— The Observer (@NDSMCObserver) February 26, 2026
On February 11, Bishop Rhoades, who oversees the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, formally expressed “dismay” and “strong opposition” to the University of Notre Dame’s appointment of Professor Ostermann to a prominent position due to her vehement and public pro-abortion activism. He lamented at the time that the decision is “causing scandal to the faithful of our diocese and beyond.”
“Such appointments have profound impact on the integrity of Notre Dame’s public witness as a Catholic university,” he wrote just over two weeks ago.
“In nearly a dozen op-eds … Professor Ostermann has attacked the pro-life movement, using outrageous rhetoric,” His Excellency exclaimed. “Professor Ostermann’s opposite view thus clearly should disqualify her from holding a position of leadership within the Keough School.”
Bishop Rhoades was supported by several of his brother bishops including USCCB president Archbishop Paul Coakley, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop Samuel Aquila, Bishop Robert Barron, Bishop Thomas Proprocki, Bishop Donald Hying, and more.
READ: USCCB president joins bishops calling on Notre Dame to demote pro-abortion professor
On Tuesday evening, in a display of opposition to Ostermann’s appointment, Bishop Rhoades lead dozens of faithful in praying the Rosary at the famous Our Lady of Lourdes grotto nearby before offering Holy Mass at Sacred Heart Basilica on campus.
During the Rosary, Bishop Rhoades knelt alongside Luke Woodyard and Gabriel Ortner, two students who were organizing a broadly supported march on campus this Friday evening to oppose Ostermann’s appointment.
According to The Sycamore Trust, an alumni group that seeks to protect Notre Dame’s Catholic identity, this “March on the Dome” will proceed as planned.
In a Thursday morning post on X/Twitter, this sponsoring organization announced that while the news of Ostermann’s decision to “not move forward” with her promotion, “the March on the Dome remains as important as ever. The concerns of faithful students are not limited to one appointment. They are about deeper questions bearing on Notre Dame’s Catholic identity and fidelity to the mission entrusted to her by the Church.”
“When confusion arises regarding that mission, it is the duty of the faithful to bear peaceful, public witness to the truth in charity,” the organization wrote.
Other groups sponsoring the march include Notre Dame Right to Life, Knights of Columbus Council 1477, The Irish Rover newspaper, Students for Child-Oriented Policy, Militia of the Immaculata, and Children of Mary. Longtime Notre Dame professor Fr. Bill Miscamble, CSC will lead a blessing of candles while the Rosary will be prayed at the school’s famous Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes after several students address those who gather at the rally.
READ: Notre Dame students to lead protest against promotion of pro-abortion professor
“Therefore, do not change your plans,” wrote The Sycamore Trust regarding the march which is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. EST at the Main Circle on the school’s South Bend, Indiana, campus and end at a stage on the South Quad.
“Join the March in body if you are able. Join in spirit and prayer if you cannot be present,” the organization said. “Stand with those who seek a university that is unapologetically Catholic, faithful to Christ, and worthy of Our Lady’s name.”
Notre Dame students pressed for the rescinding of appointment, naming abortion an ‘intrinsic evil’
Ostermann joined Notre Dame nine years ago as a professor of global affairs. In years past, she has said that abortion access is “freedom-enhancing” and that “forced pregnancy and childbirth are violence against women.”
Catholics who work at Notre Dame, including Fr. Miscamble, had expressed outrage over her appointment. In a January essay for First Things, Miscamble called it “a travesty” given Ostermann’s consulting role with the Population Council, which he described as “a Rockefeller-founded agency dedicated toward population control.”
He called on Notre Dame’s Board of Fellows, composed of six Holy Cross priests and six laypeople, to revoke Ostermann’s appointment. The board is tasked, among other things, with ensuring “that the University maintains its essential character as a Catholic institution of higher learning,” according to the university’s website.
At the time, Miscamble believed there was “some possibility” that the “disgraceful” appointment could be reversed “if there is an outpouring of criticism of the Notre Dame administration.”
Despite the criticisms, the university issued a January 28 statement defending Ostermann, whom it has described as a “highly regarded political scientist and legal scholar.”
Bishop Rhoades issued his statement two weeks later.
Amid the controversy has been Notre Dame’s students. Earlier this month, the executive committee of student-run Notre Dame Right to Life had called on the university to rescind the appointment as well. In a statement published in The Observer February 4, the board said Ostermann’s advocacy contradicts the Catholic Church’s view that abortion is an intrinsic evil.
While it has long been considered a pre-eminent Catholic university in the United States, Notre Dame has increasingly failed to live up to its professed identity, most famously by having given then-President Barack Obama an honorary award and later bestowing on Joe Biden its prestigious Laetare Medal.