Notre Dame staff cut ties after university promotes pro-abortion professor

Staff members have resigned from the University of Notre Dame after it promoted a pro-abortion activist to serve as director of the Asian Studies Institute on campus. Student leaders are calling on the university to rescind the activist's promotion.

Key Takeaways:

• Susan Ostermann, an associate professor of global affairs at Notre Dame, a Catholic institution, was named the director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies.

• Ostermann is an outspoken pro-abortion activist who has described pro-life laws as a form of "violence" and abortion as a way for women to obtain "freedom."

• Staff and student leaders are cutting ties with the Catholic university in protest.

The Backstory:

As Live Action News previously reported, Ostermann's placement was announced in a January press release. Ostermann's academic focus is on political studies, particularly in Asia, and she was lauded as an "exceptional scholar" and a "deeply engaged teacher."

However, Ostermann is also an outspoken abortion activist, having written essays with another Notre Dame professor arguing that pro-life efforts to stop abortion are based on white supremacy and are acts of violence against women and "traumatic sexual abuse."

Ostermann's co-author, Professor Tamara Kay, has been caught helping students undergo illegal abortions, telling students to “[l]ook for the ‘J’, Spread the word to students!”

Unsurprisingly, she posted a "J" on her office door. “This is a SAFE SPACE to get help and information on ALL Healthcare issues and access — confidentially with care and compassion,” a note posted alongside the "J" read. Her non-Notre Dame e-mail address was attached.

The Irish Rover, a student-run newspaper, exposed the illegal activity, and Kay sued for defamation, but her case was dismissed.

According to Notre Dame's press release, Ostermann has been a consultant for the Population Council, which Live Action News previously reported is "the eugenics organization credited with bringing the abortion pill (RU-486) to the United States."

The news of Ostermann's appointment follows a late 2025 decision from Notre Dame to drop "acceptance and support for the Catholic mission" from its staff values.

The Details:

A law professor and a professor emeritus have both resigned in protest over Ostermann's promotion. Diane A. Desierto, professor of law and global affairs, announced her resignation in a statement. “I confirm that I submitted my resignation to the University President, Provost, Keough School Dean, and the current Liu Institute Director, giving up my appointments as a Faculty Fellow and member of the Faculty Executive Committee of the Liu Institute," she wrote.

Additionally, Robert Gimello, a research professor emeritus of theology and expert on Buddhism, resigned from the Liu Institute. Gimello told the National Catholic Register that Ostermann is “a scholar who has repeatedly, publicly, and adamantly proclaimed her opposition to (verging at times, it seems to me, on contempt for) the Catholic Church’s firm teaching that protection and nourishment of human life, from the moment of conception until natural death, is a sacred duty incumbent upon the whole human community.”

He added, “Continued formal association with a unit of the University led by such a person is, for me, simply unconscionable — this regardless of whatever considerable talents and accomplishments the appointee might otherwise bring to the job."

In a statement to the Register, Ostermann said she wanted to keep her politics separate from her job. “I have long worked with scholars who hold diverse views on a multitude of issues, and I welcome the opportunity to continue doing so," she said. "While I hold my own convictions on complex social and legal issues, I want to be clear: my role is to support the diverse research of our scholars and students, not to advance a personal political agenda."

In addition, a group of eight pro-life students has called on Notre Dame to rescind Ostermann's promotion. Anna Kelley is the president of Notre Dame Right to Life, which has over 700 members. Kelley, along with other board members of the club, published a letter opposing Ostermann's nomination.

READ: University of Notre Dame deletes staff requirement to support Catholic 'mission'

"The claim that Ostermann’s personal beliefs will have no influence on her work as head of the Liu Institute is erroneous and naive," the letter read. "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. This right must be at the crux of all University action, both from its leadership and its professors; Ostermann’s public works are contrary to this vital right and have inherently injurious consequences. This issue is neither abstract nor ideological."

Why it Matters:

Kelley specifically added that she finds Ostermann's promotion personally offensive, due to her background as a Chinese adoptee and practicing Catholic.

"I am so blessed to have escaped the fate that Professor Ostermann’s work has inflicted on so many innocent Chinese lives," she said. "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.”