Protest Planned Ahead Of Rider Decision On Westminster Choir College Princeton Campus

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ — The Coalition to Save Westminster Choir College in Princeton has filed for incorporation status to be recognized as a 501 (c) (3) entity, and has retained legal status, the organization announced.

It is also planning a protest alongside the Rider University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) for Tuesday morning, ahead of the Rider University Board of Trustees’ final vote on whether it will close its Princeton University campus.

In December, the university announced it was 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.

In the aftermath of that announcement, the Coalition to Save the Westminster Choir College Princeton Campus began 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.

In announcing it was looking to become a legal non-profit entity, the Coalition announced it had retained legal status, but couldn’t elaborate on that beyond the following response from Coalition President Constance Fee.

“We have actually retained several lawyers from different firms in the Princeton/Lawrenceville area who are working on various aspects of our campaign to save Westminster, including application for our non-profit incorporation and for landmark status for the campus,” Fee said. “There may be other legal actions that some of our major donors are considering, but our group has several sub-groups focusing on different areas, and that is one that I am not involved with directly.”

Dr. Joseph Beck, a 1959 graduate of Westminster Choir College, is one such donor. He made a generous donation to the new Marion Buckelew Cullen Center on the Princeton campus, which opened in October of 2014, according to the Coalition.

However, following December's announcement, he sent a letter to the university stating he will ask to be reimbursed for the money he donated over the last nine years if Rider decides to lose the Princeton campus.

“Rider President Dell'Omo seeks to save Rider by destroying Westminster. In the end, he will not be able to rescue Rider, but Westminster’s support group of parents, alumni, donors, and friends fully intends to save this treasure,” he said in the letter. “I will request that Rider either refund my donations or disperse them to the various colleges that would benefit by accepting the incredibly talented students who could no longer train and study at WCC. I would strongly urge my fellow donors who are dismayed at the leadership of the Rider administration to withhold their checks if the Rider Board of Trustees votes to sell the campus.”

Before that meeting, the Coalition and Rider University Chapter of the AAUP will hold a press conference and a protest on Tuesday morning, 8:45 a.m.

The stated goal of Rider AAUP is to protect academic freedom, to establish and strengthen institutions of faculty governance, to provide fair procedures for resolving grievances, to promote the economic well-being of faculty and other academic professionals, and to advance the interests of higher education.

The protest is not the first step the Coalition has taken to attempt to save the Princeton campus.

In addition to seeking historic designation for the Princeton campus, it held a 24-hour music marathon at the campus in January.

That event drew the attention of multiple local and regional media outlets to the issue.

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.

The 20-acre campus has been at its current location since 1932, and is the home to about 430 students. It became part of Rider University in 1991.

Patch file photo