Notre Dame Right to Life pressures university to undo promotion of pro-abortion professor

(LifeSiteNews) — The executive committee of the student-run Notre Dame Right to Life is calling on the university to rescind the appointment of Dr. Susan Ostermann as director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies.

In a statement published in The Observer, the school’s most prominent newspaper, the board said Ostermann’s advocacy contradicts the Catholic Church’s view that abortion is an intrinsic evil.

The group pointed to 11 op-ed pieces Ostermann wrote in the past. In one particular piece for left-leaning website Salon, she claimed that defending the sanctity of life is rooted in “white supremacy” and “racism.”

“The claim that Ostermann’s personal beliefs will have no influence on her work … is erroneous and naive,” the committee said. “The work done by the Keough School of Global Affairs must be informed by the preeminent right to life and the dignity of the human person.”

Two scholars have already resigned from their roles with the institute out of protest. Robert Gimello, research professor emeritus of theology, told current Liu Institute head Michel Hockx he was resigning “in dismay” over Ostermann’s appointment. He also requested his name and photo be removed from the institute’s roster.

Diane Desierto, a professor of law and global affairs, informed Fox News that she resigned from her positions as faculty fellow and member of the institute’s Faculty Executive Committee.

Longtime Notre Dame professor Father Wilson Miscamble expressed outrage over the situation in an essay for First Things, calling the appointment “a travesty” given Ostermann’s consulting role with the Population Council, which he described as a “a Rockefeller-founded agency dedicated toward population control.”

The controversy over Ostermann’s appointment comes just several months after Notre Dame dropped then re-added language about staff needing to support its Catholic mission, a requirement that had been in place for two decades.

Students at Notre Dame continue to highlight the disconnect with administrators. After a major snowstorm this past week, residents of Coyle Hall built “St. Olaf’s ice chapel” on campus. More than 1,600 students attended Mass there, garnering national attention.

Love thee, Notre Dame 🎶

Last night, more than 1,600 Notre Dame students braved 19° temps for Mass at St. Olaf’s Chapel, built by Coyle Hall residents from the 38 inches of January snow. pic.twitter.com/TpYiTblTR2

— University of Notre Dame (@NotreDame) February 3, 2026

Ostermann told The Observer that reaction is overblown and that her focus at the Liu center is to “support the diverse research of our scholars and students, not to advance a personal political agenda.”

Notre Dame Right to Life president Anna Kelley rejected that argument, noting, “As a Catholic adoptee from China, I take personal offense at this appointment. I am so blessed to have escaped the fate that Professor Ostermann’s work has inflicted on so many innocent Chinese lives. Because I have been given the gift of life, I am choosing to speak out with my own testimony to bring attention to the real-life consequences that her ideology promotes.”