Editor’s Note: This is the third article in aseriesof four covering a Feb. 27 student-led demonstration against promoting Susan Ostermann to direct the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies. The first article documents early planning by event organizers. The second features perspectives on the protest from student and outside groups. The third records how the event shifted from a protest to a prayer service following Ostermann‘s decision to withdraw from the position. The fourth covers the prayer service itself.
Student organizers of the “March on the Dome” protest have changed course for the event and now plan to hold a prayer service today at 6 p.m. The protest was originally plannedin response to the appointment of Susan Ostermann to lead the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies. On Thursday, Keough School dean Mary Gallagher announced in an email to the global affairs school that Ostermann had declined her appointment. Ostermann’s appointment had received significant pushback over the professor’s abortion-rights advocacy.
While student leaders from Catholic and conservative groups on campus initially planned to deliver addresses on what they see as Notre Dame’s failure to live up to its Catholic mission, those speeches will not be delivered as originally planned, organizer Luke Woodyard said. Instead, those leaders will seek to publish their thoughts in The Observer and other publications at a later date.
In a statement to The Observer, Notre Dame Right to Life president Anna Kelley confirmed the change in plans.
“After internal discussions, Notre Dame Right to Life and all listed co-sponsors will continue to gather on South Quad for a prayerful procession in gratitude for the recent decision of the withdrawal of Professor Susan Ostermann. Student leaders will no longer address their concerns with the University at the demonstration. Rather, we will be focusing on uniting in prayer and thanksgiving for the true Catholic identity of Notre Dame shining through in the hope to continue this strong presence in all things we do moving forward,” she wrote.
Woodyard characterized Ostermann’s decision to decline her appointment as a victory. He added the prayer service is intended to be celebratory and said that participants would process with blessed candles to the Grotto singing Marian hymns.
“It’s a unifying victory that we just achieved. And in the spirit of the ice chapel Mass, we want to show Notre Dame that we’re still Catholic, and everything we do is out of love,” Woodyard said, referencing an outdoor Mass in a student-built ice chapel held earlier this month that attracted significant media attention and drew thousands of students.