The University of Notre Dame, one of the leading Catholic universities in the United States, has appointed Susan Ostermann, a professor known for her public activism in favor of abortion, as director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, a decision that once again raises serious doubts about the coherence between the Catholic identity the institution proclaims and some of its institutional decisions.
The appointment, which will take effect on July 1, was announced by the Keough School of Global Affairs and has been reported by The Irish Rover. Ostermann is an associate professor of global affairs and political science and has been part of the Notre Dame faculty since 2017, when she was incorporated as one of the first faculty members of the aforementioned school.
Her academic profile focuses on the study of the state, coercion, and law, with special attention to South Asia, and she currently teaches both undergraduate students and those in the Law School. However, her public trajectory goes far beyond the strictly academic realm.
Explicit pro-abortion activism
In recent years, Ostermann has published numerous opinion articles in national media openly defending legal abortion. In them, she argues that “abortion saves women’s lives” and has gone so far as to describe pro-life laws as forms of “violence,” “sexual abuse,” and “trauma” imposed by the state.
In an article published in 2022 in the Chicago Tribune, co-written with another Notre Dame professor, Ostermann implicitly denied the existence of human life in the early stages of pregnancy, stating that in most abortions “there are no babies or fetuses.” The then-president of the university, Father John Jenkins, C.S.C., was forced to publicly disavow the text, stating that “it does not reflect the opinions or values of the University of Notre Dame.”
Institutional defense without clarifications
Despite this history, the official statement announcing her appointment as director of the Liu Institute omits any reference to her public positions on abortion. The dean of the Keough School, Mary Gallagher, described her as an “outstanding choice,” highlighting her research capacity and academic experience.
In response to the criticism aroused, LifeSiteNews reported that the university defended Ostermann’s promotion by insisting that those who hold leadership positions must act in accordance with Notre Dame’s Catholic mission and its commitment to the “inherent dignity of the human person and the sanctity of life in all its stages.” However, that generic statement was not accompanied by any specific explanation of how that commitment is reconciled with the repeated pro-abortion activism of the new director.
For her part, Ostermann declined to make statements and referred any inquiries to the university’s communications office.
A problem that is not new
The University of Notre Dame, located in the state of Indiana (USA) and considered a reference for academic Catholicism in the United States, officially states that it defends human life “from conception to natural death.” However, it is not the first time that the institution promotes or supports public figures aligned with the abortion agenda.
The most remembered precedent is the honorary doctorate awarded in 2009 to then-President of the United States, Barack Obama, a staunch defender of abortion, despite protests from more than 80 American bishops. In more recent years, the university has hosted conferences and academic programs with participation from abortion activists and promoters of gender ideology, sometimes with explicit institutional support.