Editor’s Note: This is the fourth article in aseriescovering 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.
Around 150 students, alumni and community members gathered on South Quad Friday evening for a prayer service in support of Notre Dame’s Catholic mission.
The event was initially billed a “March on the Dome” demonstration, protesting professor Susan Ostermann’s appointment to director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, butwas altered after Ostermann declined the appointment. The promotion had drawn backlash as a result of Ostermann’s abortion-rights advocacy.
The prayer service began with remarks from organizer and sophomore Luke Woodyard.
“We gather here no longer in protest, but rather to give gratitude to God. What started as an event addressing the appointment of Susan Ostermann as head of the Liu Institute has become a gathering of thanksgiving and hope for the future in light of Ostermann’s recent withdrawal,” he said in a speech.
The event started at the South Quad flagpole before processing to the Grotto, where the Militia of the Immaculata led a rosary. The standard 6:45 p.m. Grotto rosary group joined those attending the prayer service.
Staff from the Student Activities Office and the Office of Public Affairs and Communications were present to monitor the event.
Organizer and junior Gabriel Ortner said in an interview with The Observer he was satisfied with the turnout and said it showed how much students care about the University’s Catholic identity.
Woodyard, in an interview, said the turnout met his expectations and he assumed attendance would be lower after Ostermann declined the position.
“It’s sad, because sometimes the wins, they don’t draw as much as the controversies,” he said.
Ortner said he believed University President Fr. Robert Dowd had “taken a lot of very good leadership behind the scenes” to ensure Ostermann’s appointment did not go through.
“I’m very supportive of Fr. Dowd, and I have a lot of hope for the future of our university. At the same time, I think that there may be particular people within the administration who have a slightly different vision of Notre Dame that is not entirely in harmony with the Catholic identity of Notre Dame,” Ortner said.
Anna Kelley, senior and president of Notre Dame Right to Life, also suggested in an interview that she believed administration may have intervened in Ostermann’s appointment.
“We don’t really know what happened in the background regarding Ostermann’s withdrawal, and I think there must have been some administrative action happening behind the scenes,” she said.
Kelley added that she thought there was work to be done in reviewing Notre Dame’s hiring process. “This is not the end of trying to continue the Catholic mission and Catholic identity,” she said.
In an interview with The Observer, Theo Austin, vice president of Students for Child-Oriented Policy, said, “Right now, I think the most important thing to express is unity among the student body and our unity with the Catholic mission of the University.” He added that in light of Ostermann stepping down, a protest was not the appropriate response.
Woodyard also commented on the shift in the approach of the event.
“We’re here in thanksgiving. This event is not an angry protest calling for the university to do certain actions,” he stated.
Woodyard described the news that Ostermann had decided to decline her appointment as “amazing.”
“I applaud her for this. That is such a bold decision, and I thank her for listening to the students,” he said.
“We don’t hate her. We just think that Notre Dame needs to put its Catholic faith forward. That’s what this has always been about,” he added.
Attendees at the prayer service expressed a mix of disappointment in the University and gratitude that Ostermann would not become director of the Liu Institute.
“I think it is very shameful that a Catholic school would appoint someone with such manifest support for legal abortion to a leadership position,” Max McNiff, a sophomore and an officer of the Knights of Columbus, said. “It is not unprecedented for leaders of Notre Dame to take stands on controversial social issues, such as Hesburgh with the civil rights movement. I think for Notre Dame to continue in that legacy, its leaders should not be afraid to speak out on issues such as abortion.”
Daniel Costello, a retired faculty member, said, “I think this is important to uphold the Catholic character of the University.” He added, “I hope the University does not make the same mistake twice.”
Bob Tull, a Notre Dame class of 1978 alumnus, said, “I am here to support what I consider to be the anti-abortion decision that has been made. We are very happy to see that the student body and many others are helping to try to influence this. I think it is a strong Catholic issue, and I think it ends up speaking well to the Catholic identity of Notre Dame.”
Organizers said the event was not the end of the conversation.
“It is not the end of the discourse between the student body and the University. This is something that has always existed and is obviously going to continue – particularly around our Catholic identity. Today is a step toward that goal of a strong Notre Dame that is not afraid to defend its Catholic identity, which hopefully begins with the administration but is upheld by students, by faculty, by all involved. Today we hope to pray for unity in that and grow from there,” Austin said.
In an interview with The Observer, Fr. Wilson Miscamble said he was grateful for the event’s organizers and the co-sponsoring organizations. “There’s still a lot of work to do,” he added. Following the rosary, Miscamble told attendees they could leave their candles at the Grotto, “or perhaps you could take them, in case we need them at some future service.”
In a statement to The Observer, Bill Dempsey, chairman of the Sycamore Trust, wrote he was grateful Ostermann chose to decline her appointment and appreciated the “crucial role played by the courageous actions of students who stood up-publicly and prayerfully-for the integrity of Notre Dame’s Catholic mission.”
The Sycamore Trust, an organization focused on “fighting for the university’s Catholic identity,” supported and promoted the event.
However, Dempsey said he had broader concerns about Notre Dame’s administration, and that it would be “shortsighted” to describe Ostermann’s decision to decline the role as a victory.
“The appointment is far more important than the resignation, welcome as that is. With no indication of regret from Father Dowd, the appointment 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 any change,” Dempsey wrote.
Woodyard made it clear that his concerns about Notre Dame’s Catholic identity were much broader than just the appointment of Ostermann.
“People think the protest was about Ostermann. Ostermann was the last straw, but it was a long line of university action that has implied that they don’t value Notre Dame’s Catholic identity,” he said.
He added that representatives of Catholic and conservative student organizations on campus would be voicing their concerns publicly at a later time in lieu of speeches previously planned for the march.
“The leaders of the clubs will be making their voices known through newspapers, through the media, over the coming weeks, so just be prepared for that, because the bill has to come due,”Woodyard said.