America’s premier Catholic university has faced increasing pressure over the past month due to the promotion of a radical abortion activist. Now, in the face of mounting criticism from Catholic bishops, alumni, and students, Professor Susan Ostermann will no longer be the director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

According to the Notre Dame-based The Observer, Dean Mary Gallagher of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs made the announcement Thursday. Gallagher acknowledged neither Ostermann’s abortion activism nor the public backlash against her promotion, instead honoring the professor 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.” Notably, Gallagher shared that Ostermann herself made the decision not to accept the promotion, rather than the university’s nominally-Catholic leadership.

Last month, Ostermann was announced as the head of the Liu Institute, despite her abortion activism, which conflicts with the moral teachings of the Catholic Church and, ostensibly, the mission of the University of Notre Dame. Ostermann has a lengthy history of abortion activism, authoring and co-authoring numerous op-ed pieces in support of the slaughter of the unborn, including claiming that abortion does not “kill babies. Almost 90% of abortions occur during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy when there are no babies or fetuses.” The professor’s blatantly un-Catholic writing prompted then-president of Notre Dame Fr. John Jenkins to publicly rebuke her.

Ostermann’s promotion drew almost instant backlash from Catholics, from priests and bishops to laity and students. Fr. Wilson Miscamble, a longtime Notre Dame faculty member and a Catholic priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross (the order of priests which founded the university in 1842), wrote in an essay that Notre Dame’s ambition to “ensure that our Catholic character informs all our endeavors” is “explicitly repudiated by the recent decision to appoint one of the university’s most vocal pro-abortion advocates to head Notre Dame’s Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies.” Miscamble shared that he and other faculty members had called on university leadership to rescind the promotion due to Ostermann’s “sickening” abortion views, adding, “There can be no dispute that Ostermann stands in stark contrast to fundamental Catholic moral teaching on the sacredness of human life.”

Local Catholic Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, which includes the Catholic university, issued a statement condemning Ostermann’s appointment. The bishop shared that he had read Ostermann’s pro-abortion op-eds and was moved to express his “strong opposition” to her promotion, which he said undermines “the integrity of Notre Dame’s public witness as a Catholic university. Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota, who also sits on President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, characterized Ostermann’s promotion as “repugnant to the identity and mission of” Notre Dame.

Bishop Donald Hying of the Diocese of Masion, Wisconsin; Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the Archdiocese of San Francisco; Bishop James Wall of the Diocese of Gallup, New Mexico; Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska; Bishop David Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin; Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas; Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, who has denied Holy Communion to pro-abortion Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.); and Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York, who played a key role in the election of Pope Leo XIV, joined Rhoades in calling on Notre Dame to rescind Ostermann’s appointment.

The pro-life organization Students for Life of America (SFLA) also criticized the university. “Elevating an abortion radical to lead at one of the premier Catholic schools in the nation represents a failure on the part of Notre Dame’s leadership,” said SFLA President Kristan Hawkins, a Catholic, in a press release. SFLA downgraded Notre Dame’s pro-life rating from a B grade to an F, warning, “The school’s new ‘F’ grade will stand until the pro-abortion professor is fired.”

Students and alumni have also protested Ostermann’s promotion, with Notre Dame students planning a “March on the Dome” protest for February 27. Despite Ostermann’s refusal of the appointment, the protest will continue. Students Luke Woodyard and Gabriel Ortner organized the protest. Woodyard called Ostermann’s refusal of the promotion “great news, but although we won the battle, the war wages on. The fact that this pro abortion professor could ever be appointed signifies a much deeper Split between the students, deans, and administration.” He added, “The spirit in which we ‘March on the Dome’ was never just [Ostermann], it was making sure nothing like this shocking appointment is ever tolerated at Notre Dame.”

In a statement addressing her refusal of the position, Ostermann admitted that the public pressure from Catholics prompted her decision. “At present, the focus on my appointment risks overshadowing the vital work the Institute performs, which it should be allowed to pursue without undue distraction,” she said. “At the same time, it has become clear that there is work to do at Notre Dame to build a community where a variety of voices can flourish.”

The Sycamore Trust, an alumni group dedicated to preserving Notre Dame’s Catholic identity and morals, shared a statement with The Washington Stand hailing Ostermann’s refusal of the promotion as a win, but warning that “so far as those responsible for the appointment are concerned, the resignation alters nothing.” The Sycamore Trust continued, “The appointment itself remains a scandal. It evidences the low value the administration places on the Church’s teaching on abortion. It is a telling symptom of the school’s weakening Catholic identity. And it is distressing that a protest of nuclear dimension was required to effect even this limited change.”