SOUTH BEND, Ind.—For weeks, University of Notre Dame leaders publicly insisted that the appointment of a pro-abortion-rights professor to head the Asian studies institute was final.
But beneath the university’s famed Golden Dome, things were far more unsettled, campus sources told the Register — especially in the office of Holy Cross Father Robert Dowd, Notre Dame’s president.
The revelation follows news that Susan Ostermann will not be moving forward as director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, which a university official announced in an internal email Thursday morning. The Jan. 8 appointment of Ostermann, who has previously written that abortion access is part of “integral human development” and that the pro-life movement has “racist” origins, created major backlash, with Catholic voices on and off campus calling for it to be rescinded before taking effect July 1.
But while the reversal has been framed in official communications as the result of Ostermann’s decision — one she says she made to prevent controversy from “overshadowing” the Liu Institute’s work — university sources say other factors may have played a role behind the scenes.
Most notably, sources told the Register that Father Dowd was not happy with the appointment and
