Coalition Makes Case For Westminster Choir College Princeton Campus As Historic Landmark

PRINCETON, NJ — Mickey Lazenby-Gast was on the Rider University Board of Trustees for 18 years, and was involved in closed session discussions about the university’s finances during that time.

Even after leaving the board, she felt an obligation not to speak on the university’s financial situation, but that changed last month.

That’s when the university announced it would be considering closing its Westminster Choir College’s Princeton campus and consolidate all students onto the Lawrenceville campus in order to avoid a possible $13.1 million deficit by 2019.

The school is in a position where it would need to increase enrollment by 114 undergraduate students by next fall, and another 46 the year after that.

“Problems run much deeper than that,” Lazenby-Gast said in a phone interview on Thursday night, Jan. 5. “This is not the cause of the situation. ... There are four other colleges on the Lawrenceville campus that have been losing money and students over the years. … Westminster Choir College has been meeting enrollment goals.”

Lazenby-Gast is part of a group of alumni and high profile patrons that feels closing the Princeton campus won’t help solve the university’s financial issues.

The Coalition to Save the Westminster Choir College Princeton Campus has been exploring options for ultimately disengaging the Princeton Campus from the university’s budget. While that is a long-range goal, it is also making the case that the campus deserves historic designation.

“Some people think a building has to be old to be considered for historic preservation, but that’s not the case,” Lazenby-Gast said in a phone interview following the meeting.

She said that to be considered for the designation, a property must have some kind of historical significance to the community in which its located, important people have to have been there and/or important things of historical significance have to have taken place there.

She cited the Philadelphia Orchestra’s performance at the campus when it was dedicated in the 1930’s, and the campus’s many performances with famous orchestras.

Famous conductors Bruno Walter, Eugene Ormandy and Alan Gilbert, and famous composer Leonard Bernstein are among those who have performed alongside the choir. Canadian conductor and pianist Yannick Nezet-Seguin studied at the campus. Albert Einstein even played the violin in the orchestra.

The group made this case to the Princeton Historic Preservation Committee on Jan. 5, in front of between 50 and 60 supporters.

She said the group understands the process doesn’t move quickly, but they wanted to make sure they made their case. There is still paperwork that needs to be filled out and a process to be followed to achieve historic designation.

Initially, it was believed that a decision would be made in February, but that decision is likely to be postponed, Lazenby-Gast said.

A Rider University representative said that the historic status of the campus wouldn’t impact the university’s decision, according to Planet Princeton.

In addition to the Coalition, there is a change.org petition that has launched, known as Keep Rider University’s Westminster Choir College Campus in Princeton Open, and there is a Keep Westminster Choir College in Princeton Facebook group.

“Westminster Choir College is the only school of its kind in the world,” Lazenby-Gast said. “ … Students live there together. They study together. No matter what their individual majors are, they come together to make music. It’s a very powerful thing.

“The space in which an artist creates is very important. You can’t just move them and expect it to be the same.”She concluded by saying the Princeton Campus has the facilities required by the National Association of Schools and Music (NASM). The acoustics in the Lawrenceville campus don’t match those at the Princeton campus, she said.