At the heart of recent contention between Princeton municipality and community members is the proposed purchasing of a property of historic relevance — the location of the Westminster Choir College.
Despite years of lawsuits aiming to return the College to its original property, two ordinances proposed at the Princeton Town Council meeting on Sept. 9 reveal the town’s plan to buy the space from Rider University for public use. The property has remained empty since 2020 after Rider University’s decision to move the Choir College programs to Rider’s Lawrenceville campus.
The Choir College came to Princeton in 1935, when presbyterian philanthropist Sophia Strong Taylor gifted the land to Westminster for “training ministers of music for evangelical churches” and that “the Bible is to be taught to the whole school at least one hour per week.” She expressed that should the college no longer serve these purposes, the title should be forfeited by Westminster and passed to Princeton Theological Seminary.
Westminster operated independently until 1991, but due to severe financial constraints, merged with Rider University because the Seminary could not commit to administering the College, according to court records. The merger, though in violation of Taylor’s stipulations, obliged Rider to uphold Westminster’s original programs and purpose.
However, in 2016, Rider announced that its “significant financial needs” and “very significant deficit” led to plans to: (1) sell Westminster’s Princeton campus to another institution that would operate the Choir College; (2) transfer Westminster’s programs to another institution; (3) close the Choir College altogether; or (4) move its programs to Rider’s Lawrenceville campus.
In response, students, faculty, and alumni formed the Westminster Foundation “dedicated to preserving the legacy and ensuring the future of Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, and to opposing efforts by Rider University to sell or close Westminster Choir College.”
In September 2018, members of the Westminster Foundation, along with tenured faculty from both campuses, filed a suit in the New Jersey Superior Court Chancery Division, which successfully blocked Rider’s attempted sale of the Choir College to Beijing Kaiwen Education Technology Company.
At the same time, the Theological Seminary filed a suit against Rider in 2018, claiming it agreed to the 1991 Westminster-Rider merger “with the express understanding that Westminster, including any successor, would operate and perpetuate Westminster Choir College at [its Princeton] campus.” The suit is still pending.
Despite legal retaliation, in May 2019, Rider officially decided to move activities of Westminster Choir College to its main campus in Lawrenceville, angering community members. In October 2019, 70 students, faculty, and alumni filed a lawsuit alleging they had enrolled at Westminster “because of its unique facilities and the exclusivity of its conservatory environment.” They maintained Rider’s Lawrenceville campus ruined the ambiance needed to attract elite voice, choral and opera students.
The Chancery Division dismissed their case, claiming they did not have standing. However, in 2023, a N.J. Appellate Court reversed this decision, allowing the Vazquez suits to go forward, because they “easily demonstrated their stake in Westminster’s fate and the harm they would suffer should they be deprived of access to the Choir College’s conservatory campus in Princeton.”
In the midst of these legal battles, an ordinance proposed at Monday’s Town Council Meeting outlines appropriating $50 million for the acquiring of a property. This would include a $500,000 down payment and authorize the issuance of bonds of $49.5 million pursuant to the Local Bond Law in order to finance the acquisition. A second ordinance names the location of the property as the previous location of the Choir College.
According to a statement by the Mayor and Council, the Governing Body is “committed to working with community stakeholders to determine the best public purposes for this centrally-located site.” Working with community members is easier said than done, however, considering the College’s history of quarrelsome ownership transfers and lawsuits.
Some community members are not happy with this proposed acquisition however. Attorney Bruce Afran, who represents the Westminster Foundation and advises the Seminary in their respective suits in response to the recent town ordinances, told Planet Princeton that “the property is absolutely not available for anyone to buy” and that “the town will not avoid heavy litigation.”
Public hearings for these two ordinances are scheduled for Sept. 23.
Abby Leibowitz is a senior News writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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