By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The president of Westminster Choir College’s alumni council said Thursday that Westminster deserves landmark status from the town, a request aimed in response to the campus possibly being sold and the college being moved out of Princeton., Constance Fee, an opera singer representing the Coalition to Save Westminster Choir College in Princeton, a group of alumni and others, went before the Princeton Historic Preservation Commission to begin making the case for why the campus “has become a significant part of Princeton’s historical and cultural heritage” and should be made a historic district., The request comes with financially troubled Rider University, which Westminster has been a part of since 1992, about 30 days away from deciding whether to sell the Westminster campus and move the Choir College to Rider’s campus in Lawrenceville. Westminster alumni, parents of current students and others have reacted to that possibility with horror and organized to stop that outcome from ever happening. Part of their strategy is to get historical preservation protection for the campus, a move that would put another layer of municipal review on any possible redevelopment of the 28-acre-site. The commission has the ability, for example, to block the demolition of any building within a historic district., Standing inside the main meeting room of the municipal Witherspoon Hall, Ms. Fee said the Westminster campus “possesses a significant historical value and represents an outstanding aspect of American and, particularly, of Princeton history and culture.” With some 25-30 supporters of the effort in the audience, she built her case., She contended the campus will meet three out of the four criteria for meeting the designation standard: social history, association with significant people and architecture. For instance, she pointed to how the student center is named for the late William H. Scheide, a local philanthropist who had sat on Westminster’s board of trustees for 27 years. Later in her remarks, she said the campus had welcomed “musical giants” including Leonard Bernstein, while Yannick Nezet-Seguin, music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra and named last year to be music director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, “is one of the many world-renowned musicians who have studied and trained at Westminster Choir College.”, “History reminds us that the halls and the campus of Westminster Choir College of Rider University here in Princeton have been home to extraordinary people creating extraordinary music that has enriched the world,” she said. “And while we speak of bricks and mortar, it is with the appreciation that these structures have placed the Princeton community at the epicenter of a global, cultural community.”, Her organization will need to submit to the commission a formal nomination report including a site plan of the proposed historic district, the rationale for why the campus merits landmark status, among other things. The most the Preservation Commission could do would be to recommend to the Princeton Council that it designate the campus a historic district, with the governing body having the final say., “We will await that report,” said Commission chairwoman Julie Capozzoli after Ms. Fee finished speaking., Rider President Gregory G. Dell’Omo, finding his administration facing budget shortfalls as the private university struggles with missed enrollment projections, in December raised the possibility of selling the campus and moving Westminster to Lawrenceville. A decision by the university’s Board of Trustees is expected in early February., “No decision has been made on that,” said Rider’s general counsel Mark A. Solomon during the commission meeting. “You will do your work as historic preservation commission. I would point out, though, that that has no relation to the business decision that Rider University has to make.”, Mr. Solomon was joined at the meeting by Michael F. Reca, Rider’s vice president for facilities and university operations., In the early 1990s, Rider took over Westminster at a time when the choir college was struggling financially; Mr. Scheide, the son of a Standard Oil executive, had kept the once private school afloat during lean times. But despite their being together for 24 years, Westminster alumni have maintained a feeling of separateness from Rider. Last month, Mr. Scheide’s widow, Judy, said she supported the idea of Princeton University taking over the Choir College, although Nassau Hall has given no indication it is considering such a step., “We appreciate the passion that surrounds Westminster Choir College,” Mr. Solomon said, “and its importance to the community, to the alumni, to its students and faculty.”
