Following a no-confidence vote against Rider University President Gregory Dell’Omo and his financial team, the University’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has sent a letter to the Board of Trustees stating its opposition to Rider’s March 28 decision to sell Westminster Choir College.

“We urge the Board of Trustees to rescind this decision and to begin the long, hard task of rebuilding trust with all of Rider’s stakeholders,” said Professor Jeffrey Halpern, Rider AAUP’s chief negotiator, in the letter. “Its de-acquisition will not alter Rider’s financial position or improve its long term viability. Instead, it will surely lead to a loss of both reputation and endowment.”

Mr. Dell’Omo announced last month that Rider is seeking a buyer for the Princeton-based choir college, which Rider has owned since 1992. The sale is designed to help address Rider’s projected $13 million deficit. The University had originally explored closing the Westminster campus and moving it to Rider’s Lawrenceville location, but abandoned that idea after strong protests from the Westminster community. An institution that purchases the college could either keep it at its longtime Walnut Avenue home, or move it to another location.

The faculty members take issue with Mr. Dell’Omo’s future goals for Rider, which are to include new programs in science, engineering, and technology.

“Any attempt to secure a windfall profit from the destruction of a unique world-class institution in order to build new facilities is both morally bankrupt and unlikely to succeed,” said Professor Art Taylor, president of the chapter, in the letter. Mr. Taylor signed the letter along with Mr. Halpern and other members of the union’s executive board.

Seventy-five percent of the Rider faculty voted no confidence in Mr. Dell’Omo and his team, citing as reasons cuts and layoffs of tenured faculty, and Mr. Dell’Omo’s “refusal to seriously negotiate with the faculty union,” in addition to the Westminster decision. This is the first time since the AAUP chapter was formed in 1973 that a no-confidence vote in the University president has been cast, Mr. Taylor said on Monday.

“It’s a strong statement from the faculty. The last time I spoke to the faculty as a group, I said I had concerns that he [Mr. Dell’Omo] had instituted a series of rash actions and will continue unless we do something. This is a step in that direction.”

The decision to sell Westminster “would involve a significant loss of reputation (or diminished brand) for Rider, as well as a significant negative financial impact,” the statement to the Board of Trustees reads. “In 2017, President Dell’Omo has admitted that Westminster isn’t a major drain on Rider’s overall finances. So why was the decision to sell it made? What are these strategic goals? Who established these goals?”

The statement on the no-confidence vote cites program cuts and layoffs instituted by Mr. Dell’Omo soon after he took office in 2015, specifically “a decade of dubious financial management [that has] compelled Rider’s faculty to pass this motion.”

The AAUP was hoping to have more faculty input in planning the University’s future. “The actions of President Dell’Omo, the vice-president of finance Julie Karns, and others are making what we believe are incorrect assumptions about the future,” Mr. Taylor said Monday. “We take issue with that.”

The AAUP represents nearly 500 of Rider’s full-and-part-time faculty, librarians, coaches, and athletic trainers. In announcing the no-confidence vote on April 19, the AAUP members asked Mr. Dell’Omo to take the actions necessary to regain the faculty’s support.

“We believe the president can begin this process by reaching out to faculty,” Mr. Taylor said. “We hope he will continue our long-standing tradition of a truly collaborative and inclusive approach to running the University, something we have found serves our students best.”

The letter to the Board opposing the decision to sell Westminster goes further, urging them to reconsider the action. “For its part the AAUP will use all the means at its disposal to reverse this ill-considered decision,” Mr. Halpern said.

“We are aware of the open letter sent to the Board of Trustees by Rider’s AAUP Executive Committee. We firmly believe that Westminster’s legacy can best be achieved by identifying an institution that is better positioned to make the necessary investments,” said Rider spokesperson Kristine Brown in an email. “It remains our highest priority to find an institution willing to acquire Westminster and keep it at its current location. We are confident that our decision will help preserve and enhance both Westminster and Rider University as a whole. We have and will continue to work with faculty, along with the entire Rider community, to position the University for future success.”