ND: Pro-abortion professor withdraws as institute director

Yay! A win for pro-life students. Hit the link for the whole story.

Ostermann will not assume the directorship of an academic institute at the University of Notre Dame.

Susan Ostermann, a researcher and professor at the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, had been announced as the incoming director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies within the Keough School, and was due to assume the role in July.

However, in an email to faculty Feb. 26, the dean of the Keough School informed said that Ostermann had “decided not to move forward as director” of the institute, following widespread criticism of her appointment.

Announcing her decision not to go forward in the role, Dean Mary Gallagher praised Ostermann as 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 her thoughtfulness in approaching this decision,” Gallagher said.

Sources close to the university told The Pillar that public opposition to Ostermann’s promotion to lead the Liu Institute had come from students and faculty, as well as a number of bishops from around the country, led by local Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, but also privately from trustees and major benefactors of the university, including of the Liu Institute itself.

One senior member of the university community described donors as “livid” in response to Ostermann’s appointment as director, announced in January.