By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
A decision by Rider University on the future of its Westminster Choir College is expected in the “coming weeks,” the university said Wednesday in the face of continuing public pressure by students and alumni to keep Westminster from moving to Lawrenceville., “As we work toward a final decision in the coming weeks, our goal has remained the same: explore all avenues and options to ensure a sustainable future for Rider University as a whole,” university spokeswoman Kristine A. Brown said in a statement. “We look forward to sharing more information from the board at the appropriate time.”, Ms. Brown’s comments come at a time when Rider’s administration is considering selling the Westminster campus and moving the roughly 440-student music school to the main Rider campus. The move is seen as a way to help a university facing financial shortfalls in the coming years, amid enrollment declines at Rider., But during a town hall-style forum Tuesday night at the Paul Robeson Center, Westminster students, faculty and others discussed the possible move, one that has stirred passions. Jerry Metz, a 1970 graduate of Westminster, said moving Westminster and selling the campus would not solve Rider’s problems., He said Rider had studied such an idea before, and determined that it would cost $85 million to provide “the resources that the Westminster programs would need on the Lawrenceville campus.”, “What has changed?” he said. “And the only conclusion I can come to is that the Rider board is no longer committed to supporting those programs on the Rider campus.”, Kathy Price, a Westminster faculty member, said she worries about enrollment at the school “for this current year” given all the publicity surrounding the future of Westminster., “Delaying the decision affects a lot of things, especially our enrollment for next year. So it’s not lost on the administration as well as the faculty and the students that the sooner a decision is made, the better it is for everyone,” said fellow faculty member Tom Faracco., Toward the end of last year, Rider President Gregory G. Dell’Omo offered that his administration was exploring a one-campus model that would involve moving the school out of Princeton., “We know that the Choir College is a special place, and that students, faculty, alumni and members of the community are uniquely suited to share that perspective,” Ms. Brown said. “From the outset, the university has been transparent about our challenges in both the short and long-term.”, Tuesday’s forum came a week after supporters of the music school had a 24-hour music marathon, in Nassau Presbyterian Church, to draw attention to the situation. Kimberly Reinagel, a graduate student at the school who helped with that event, on Tuesday wondered whether the time had come for Westminster to cut its ties with Rider and look for another “institution that is willing to take us under their umbrella.” Westminster, once an independent school, has been a part of Rider since 1992., “So many places would be lucky to have us as an add-on to what they already have,” she said., “We don’t have information,” said Westminster professor James Jordan. “And I know, on the part of the faculty, it’s very worrisome. I know on the part of the students, it’s worrisome.”
