(RNS) — After weeks of backlash from anti-abortion Catholics, the University of Notre Dame associate professor who had been appointed to lead the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies will not be accepting the post, a dean announced in an email Thursday (Feb. 26).

Susan Ostermann, a scholar of regulatory compliance in South Asia, had contributed to opinion pieces promoting abortion rights and arguing that anti-abortion laws are built on lies and white supremacy. 

“At present, the focus on my appointment risks overshadowing the vital work the Institute performs, which it should be allowed to pursue without undue distraction,” wrote Ostermann in a statement shared by Mary Gallagher, dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs, in an email announcing the decision.

More than a dozen Catholic bishops, as well as Notre Dame students and alumni and other anti-abortion Catholics, had vocally opposed the appointment since it was announced Jan. 8, arguing that the university’s Catholic identity is under threat due to the appointment and other decisions made by the administration. 

On Tuesday, Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, Bishop Kevin Rhoades led a rosary and prayer service on Notre Dame’s campus attended by about 50 people opposed to the appointment. Another protest had been planned by students for Friday. Though Rhoades is the bishop of Notre Dame’s diocese, the university is run by the Congregation of Holy Cross.

Rhoades had made his opposition to Ostermann’s appointment clear in a Feb. 11 statement, writing, “Professor Ostermann’s extensive public advocacy of abortion rights and her disparaging and inflammatory remarks about those who uphold the dignity of human life from the moment of conception to natural death go against a core principle of justice that is central to Notre Dame’s Catholic identity and mission.”

Rhoades was joined in his criticism by more than a dozen other bishops, including several who graduated from the school. Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley, the president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, weighed in, writing on X, “I fully support Bishop Kevin Rhoades in his challenge to Notre Dame to rectify its poor judgement in hiring a professor who openly stands against Catholic teaching when it comes to the sanctity of life, in this case protection of the unborn.”

Bishops often hesitate to publicly criticize Catholic institutions in their own diocese, even when Catholics complain that the schools are failing to uphold church teachings. But the U.S. bishops’ conference continues to teach that “the threat of abortion” is the “preeminent priority” of U.S. Catholic political engagement, according to their “Faithful Citizenship” guidance, and that threat seems to be the red line that prompts bishops to publicly intervene.

Still, it isn’t as simple as Rhoades forbidding the university from making the appointment.

Earlier this week, a Notre Dame spokesperson had defended Ostermann’s appointment in a statement to the student newspaper, The Observer, saying Ostermann “has stated clearly that she respects the University’s position on the sanctity of life, and that as director, she understands her role is to support the diverse research of the Institute’s scholars and students, not advance a personal political agenda.”

In the email announcing that Ostermann had decided not to accept the director position, Gallagher praised her work, saying her “research and teaching reflect the intellectual rigor and interdisciplinary excellence at the heart of both the Liu Institute and the Keough School of Global Affairs.”

“I am grateful for her willingness to serve and for the thoughtfulness with which she approached this decision,” wrote Gallagher. (Ostermann noted in her own statement that she had not applied for the position.)

Despite official teaching, more than 6 in 10 U.S. Catholics say abortion should be legal in most or all cases (64%), though that number drops to 36% among weekly Mass attenders, according to Pew Research Center.

Ostermann’s research has focused on conservation, education and child labor regulations in Nepal and India and how the countries strategize for compliance, as well as inter-caste marriage in India and anti-female genital mutilation laws in Burkina Faso, Mali and Kenya.

In her statement, Ostermann expressed a hope that a variety of perspectives could “flourish” at Notre Dame. “It has become clear that there is work to do at Notre Dame to build a community where a variety of voices can flourish,” she wrote. “Both academic inquiry and the full realization of human dignity demand this of us.”

Though she is turning down the director position, Ostermann said, “I look forward to collaborating with colleagues across the university to build a campus community where all can speak openly on the issues that matter to them most.”