PM me. I graduated with a MM in sacred music (organ emphasis) from Westminster last year.

Does anyone connected to Westminster have a sense for how its pending sale may affect its operations?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/nyregion/westminster-choir-college-rider-sale.html

@Liam

Multiple lawsuits are currently going on to prevent the sale. The most recent:

https://planetprinceton.com/2018/09/10/new-lawsuit-filed-to-stop-rider-universitys-sale-of-westminster-choir-college/

The sale cannot go through until the lawsuits are out of the way.

The several suits are based on two facts.

1) the land WCC sits on was donated by Princeton Theological Seminary in 1935, for the express purpose of training church musicians. If the property ceased to be used for that purpose, ownership would revert to the seminary. So PTS says WCC cannot be sold to someone who would not continue its mission.

2) when Rider acquired WCC in ‘92, it promised to run WCC in perpetuity according to its original mission. If Rider could not do so, WCC would have to become independent, or transferred to another university that could sustain it.

The Chinese government-owned bridge-steel company (Kaiwen) most likely wants the property to eventually set up a boarding prep school for Chinese students to get ready for Princeton University, up the street. They have no background in higher education, and no apparent connection to or interest in classical music. They are just a source of capital for Rider University’s vanity projects on its main (non-WCC) campus.

So I think it will be difficult for Rider to argue in court that the sale would really be in the best interests of the mission of WCC. Kaiwen has claimed it will continue regularly-scheduled programming for the next five years, but after that, it’s anyone’s guess what they’ll do.

Right now there are three options:

1) Rider wins in all three lawsuits, and sale goes ahead. Rider operates Westminster until spring ‘19 and then Kaiwen is compelled by its sale agreement to continue programs long enough for folks to graduate.

2) Rider loses in court; is forced to continue operating WCC as it has the last twenty-five years.

3) Rider loses in court and is relieved of WCC (if a judge orders this or Rider determines it cannot run WCC anymore); WCC becomes independent or joins with another university.

The odds of winning three suits seem pretty low when the facts are as they are. I would encourage interested students to still apply and at least visit.

It is noteworthy that the year I got there, 2015-16, we had the biggest classes in history. Dorms were bursting at the seams, and WCC itself had been running in the black for several years, with two new rehearsal and performance spaces opened that year. Now enrollment is down, but only through the fault of Rider, who seem to be doing everything they can to sabotage the school so they can sell the land.

A shame, but I don’t think the end is here yet. WCC has bounced back several times in its history; this campus is its third location, and many thought in the late 80s and early 90s that it wouldn’t survive. What they offer is truly unique, and not to be found anywhere else, and when idiot university admins don’t monkey with it, it truly thrives.