A proposal by The Coalition to Save Westminster Choir College in Princeton is on the agenda of the Princeton Historical Commission’s meeting scheduled for Thursday evening, January 5.

Constance Fee, president of the school’s Alumni Council, plans to read a brief introduction to the proposal, which asks that the 28-acre campus be designated a historical landmark. Financially strapped Rider University, which has owned Westminster since 1992, is studying the idea of selling the Walnut Avenue site and relocating Westminster to Rider’s main campus in Lawrenceville. The request to the Historical Commission is part of an effort by students, alumni, and friends of Westminster to protect the campus and keep it where it has been since 1932.

“It’s not just the people. It’s the environment,” said Ms. Fee, an alumna whose mother also graduated from the school. On the music faculty at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York, Ms. Fee has sent three of her former students to Westminster. “This is a Greek Revival style campus that was built specifically for educating a choir, with rehearsal spaces, practice rooms, teaching studios, and organs,” she continued. “To replicate that would be a staggering task.”

This Thursday is also the day when a group of singers from Westminster made up of current students, alumni, and professionals will appear on the Fox network television show Good Day New York. According to Ms. Fee, the singers will appear for about 10 minutes sometime between 7 and 9 a.m.

Rider president Gregory Dell’Omo informed the school community early last month that selling the Westminster campus was being considered to avoid a projected $13.1 million deficit by 2019. Since then, students, alumni, and staff have taken to social media to register their concerns and encourage an effort to ensure that such an action does not take place. A website, savewestminster.org, is a clearing house where people can sign petitions and get updated on the situation.

The Westminster Symphonic Choir has performed with major orchestras and conductors throughout the world. Many graduates join professional opera companies and orchestras, and teach and direct choral studies at colleges and universities.

“There is an atmosphere, and a culture of being in a place where everyone is on the same page, artistically, that sets Westminster apart,” Ms. Fee said. “This kind of endeavor has to be focused. These students practice all the time. They need to have a special place where they can concentrate on what they are doing, which is trying to keep an international level of performance. That’s why we sing with the Vienna Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic and so many other famous orchestras and conductors. This plan would dismantle that.”

Ms. Fee said there has been an international response to the effort to keep Westminster in Princeton. “We have a collaboration with Oxford University and have had a strong reaction from their director. And there have been equally strong reactions from big leaders in the international music community,” she said. “This tiny little place has a big reputation and a unique spot in the world of music.”

According to a statement by alumni on the coalition’s website, Westminster is “one of the top conservatories in the world,” it reads. “Moving Westminster from its home in Princeton since 1932 because Rider University is having financial problems is unacceptable. Historic, highly regarded, Westminster Choir College should not be sacrificed, nor should Westminster lose its home of 84 years.”

Those opposed to closing the campus want to know more about Rider’s projected deficit. “My question is, we’re a going concern, we’ve got international connections, and we take the name of Rider out to the world,” Ms. Fee said. “We’re getting good numbers, good donations. There are other programs at Rider that are not, but I don’t see that they are getting looked at with the same scrutiny. Or, they’re not telling us.”

Rider has indicated it will make a decision sometime in February on whether to move the campus.

Ms. Fee stresses that while there is considerable concern, alumni are grateful to Rider for saving Westminster from closing down in 1992. “We owe a lot to Rider,” she said. “We just have questions. We are thankful that they came in and helped us when we needed it. All we are trying to do is protect our sacred ground.”