Rider U. Failed To Keep Promises, Say Westminster Choir Students

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ — Westminster Choir College students at Rider University say that the institution has failed to keep its promises and are now demanding immediate action.

Over 120 students and recent graduates of Westminster Choir College have signed a petition, addressing the administration's failure in keeping its promises to students, misrepresentation of intent and inadequate facilities.

Until recently, Westminster Choir College was housed at Princeton. They moved to the Lawrenceville campus in 2020. The Westminster Foundation and a group of students had opposed the move and even filed a lawsuit.

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In their petition, the students highlight inadequate facilities, with leaking ceilings, water damage and mold, poor quality pianos, and rehearsal and performance spaces that are inadequate in size and have poor acoustics.

Coupled with the lack of proper communication from the administration and poor alumni relations, many students have withdrawn or transferred to other institutions, according to the petition. The decrease in enrollment has resulted in smaller ensembles, fewer performance opportunities, and ensembles cut from the program. Poor scheduling and the constant threat of courses (including those that are required) being canceled due to low enrollment has led to further erosion to the program, the petition said.

Many faculty members at Rider University have overwhelmingly supported the students.

“The University’s faculty strongly supports our students and alumni in their efforts to persuade the administration to give Westminster Choir College the support it promised,” Barbara Franz, President of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) at Rider, said in a statement.

“The students have legitimate complaints, complaints that could all be addressed by simply reopening the Princeton campus. Such a move would undoubtedly help dismiss the litany of lawsuits facing Rider University for the ill-conceived decision to move WCC to the Lawrenceville campus that the administration unilaterally made three years ago.”

The students have asked for a response to their petition before Dec. 15. “In order to retain current and future students and ensure the success of the school, it is imperative that the administration address our concerns listed above, and provide adequate facilities or make Westminster’s Princeton campus available for full academic use immediately for Westminster Choir College and its students, faculty, and staff,” the petition says.

You can read the full petition here.

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