BOND REQEST POSTPONED: A regulating authority has temporarily put aside Rider University’s appeal to redirect a portion of bond revenues in order to speed up the relocation of Westminster Choir College from its longtime Princeton home. (File photo by Erica M. Cardenas)

By Anne Levin

A request by Rider University to redirect part of a 2017 Revenue Bond to facilitate the move of Westminster Choir College from Princeton to Rider’s Lawrenceville campus was tabled last week by the New Jersey Educational Facilities Authority (NJEFA).

The $41.7 million bond was originally issued to fund renovations of Rider residential and academic facilities and build additions to the University’s Science and Technology and Fine Arts centers. Early last month, the campus community was informed that Rider wants to use $13 million of the bond funds to complete the first phase of the transition of Westminster to Lawrenceville. This would postpone the planned additions.

“We believe the decision to move forward with the campus transition at this time is critical to best preserve current and future Westminster enrollments, as well as supporting the vision for the combined Westminster College of the Arts in Lawrenceville,” wrote Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs DonnaJean Fredeen, in a May 4 communication. “The plan has been approved by the University’s Board of Trustees.”

Rider, which merged with Westminster in 1992, announced in 2016 that it was planning to sell the choir college. When no viable buyer was found, the University released plans to close the Princeton campus and move Westminster to Lawrence. Those plans have spurred two lawsuits and opposition from several members of the Rider community, past and present. Last March, a Mercer County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of Rider’s motion to dismiss the lawsuits, which sought to block the move. The Westminster Foundation, which is made up of alumni and supporters opposed to the move, said it would appeal the decision.

At the virtual meeting of the NJEFA last week, the Foundation filed objections to Rider’s proposed repurposing of the bond.

“Our objections say it would be unfair to the public, the taxpayers, and bond holders,” said attorney Bruce Afran, who represents the Foundation. “The original purpose of the bond was to increase enrollment. Now they want to change it to move Westminster, and that should not be allowed. Also, they told investors they were trying to sell the campus but never told them they would use the bonds to help make that sale happen.”

The chairman of the NJEFA did not say why the request was postponed. “He didn’t explain why, but every other matter went forward that day. So we have to conclude that it was because of our objections,” said Afran. “They have to be studied.”

Kristine A. Brown, associate vice president of Rider University Marketing and Communications, said, “The EFA tabled the discussion regarding the repurposing of Rider’s bonds for further information. I don’t have any additional details to add.”

In her May 4 communication to the Rider/Westminster community, Fredeen said that Westminster’s Scheide Organ is being refurbished, and is to be installed at Rider’s Gill Chapel this summer. “We also are finalizing plans to place several other organs in faculty studios and practice spaces on the Lawrenceville campus, as well as plans to refurbish those organs as needed,” she wrote. “Finally, I’m pleased to share that we were selected to receive a $125,000 Capital Support Grant from the prestigious Presser Foundation to be used towards the renovation of the Bell Choir Rehearsal Room on the Lawrenceville campus. The Presser Foundation is one of the few private foundations in the United States dedicated solely to music education and music philanthropy.”

Fredeen’s message was criticized in a statement issued by Rider’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors. “It is hard to see how the deeply contested efforts to uproot Westminster Choir College, with its clear causal reduction in WCC enrollments, is important to the ‘current and future Westminster enrollments.’ In fact, prior to President Dell’Omo’s relentless efforts to sell the Westminster Choir College property, annual freshman enrollments were consistently 100 students,” the AAUP stated. “This year, during the planned ‘transition efforts,’ essentially a plan to move the college to a location without suitable facilities to implement the program, university recruiters were only able to convince 25 students to enroll in the college, a quarter of the freshman enrollments in 2015, the year before Greg Dell’Omo came to Rider, and a single year loss of approximately $1.6 million in revenue.”

The Westminster Foundation’s statement to the NJEFA opposing the bond repurposing said, “This proposed move would result in a Westminster campus whose infrastructure is wholly inadequate for the mission of Westminster Choir College, a national treasure which provides a unique education in the United States, thereby effectuating a dismantling by attrition.”