By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The fight over the future of Rider University’s Westminster Choir College will head to Princeton’s Historic Preservation Committee next week with the board due to explore whether the 28-acre campus should get landmark status.
With financially troubled Rider expected to decide in February whether to sell the property and move the music school to its main campus in Lawrenceville, Westminster alumni and others are pushing back. To prevent what one alumnus called a “death sentence” for the school, alumni are exploring ways to forestall a sale.
“The thought is that, if Princeton decides to give Westminster historical landmark consideration or status, then perhaps it’ll make Rider change its mind,” said Matt Koller, a 1995 graduate of the school, who is part of the Coalition to Save Westminster Choir College in Princeton, a recently formed group of alumni, parents of current students and others.
The Princeton Historic Preservation Commission is scheduled to have a discussion Jan.5 about a historic district designation for Westminster. “We’ve been asked by members of the public” to look into this, said commission member Robert von Zumbusch by phone Tuesday.
“We feel that Westminster’s Princeton campus meets and exceeds all of the criteria for being recognized by the town of Princeton as a historic place,” said 2012 Westminster alumnus Jonathan Lakeland by phone Wednesday. “We plan to bring forth all of that historical information and the important history of Westminster to the town’s committee and proudly try and help protect our campus and the buildings that stand on it.”
As part of their case for historic designation, alumni point to the musical luminaries who have stepped on the campus, “from (Sergei) Rachmaninoff to (Leonard) Bernstein to even Albert Einstein playing over there,” said Mr. Koller, whose son is a freshman at the school.
Ultimately, any decision to make Westminster a historic district would be up to the Princeton Council, as the preservation commission has no independent authority to act on its own. Should there be a designation, however, there would be restrictions placed on the campus property.
“I’m, in general, in favor of historic designation widely in Princeton. Without knowing many of the details, without knowing the history, it sounds like a positive thing to me,” Councilwoman Jenny Crumiller said Wednesday.
“We’re aware of and respect the efforts of Westminster alumni and others. We are open to constructive conversation and continue to explore all options available to us to ensure that both Westminster Choir College and Rider University as a whole emerge stronger and more vibrant.” said Rider spokeswoman Kristine A. Brown on Wednesday.
Westminster has been located in Princeton since 1932 and its campus opened two years later. Since 1992, the once independent school has been a part of Rider. Home to around 440 undergraduate and graduate students, it is known throughout the music community, with its Westminster Symphonic Choir performing with some of the world’s best orchestras.
But in early December, Rider President Gregory G. Dell’ Omo announced the university — facing projected budget shortfalls amid missed enrollment goals — was studying whether to sell the campus, leading to an uproar by Westminster alumni opposed to seeing their alma mater uprooted. Rider has considered such a step before, only to keep the choir college where it is.
A Rider spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.
For alumni, the possibility of their school moving cuts deep. Westminster was the place they came to hone their musical gifts, met future spouses and, in some cases, send their children to get the education they once received. To them, the Princeton campus is integral to the experience of studying there.
“We feel any sale of the Princeton campus and any kind of merger of Westminster Choir College onto the Lawrenceville campus would absolutely be a travesty,” Mr. Lakeland said. “Westminster’s mission and identity and day-to-day activities are so engrained and so a part of the Princeton campus. It would be really hard to move the school and be able to provide the same quality of education and the same kind of quality of musical output as we do on the Princeton campus.”
He said he is “cautiously optimistic” that a sale will be averted and thinks Rider’s administrators “are now realizing how important it is to us that we stay there.”
Town officials said this week that they are unaware if anyone from Rider had been in contact with the municipality about the university’s plans for the choir college site. The property is zoned to allow educational and residential uses.
