By Anne Levin
While the future management of Westminster Conservatory of Music has yet to be decided, Rider University has agreed to continue running the community music school through the 2025 fall semester. The plan was confirmed on Tuesday by Kristine Brown, Rider’s vice president of external affairs.
The Conservatory will remain on the Walnut Avenue campus of Westminster Choir College of Rider University through the fall term. Rider, which merged with Westminster in 1991, moved the Choir College to its Lawrence Township location in 2020 after unsuccessfully attempting to sell the 23-acre Princeton campus. The Conservatory has continued to operate from the Princeton campus.
The Municipality of Princeton acquired the site for $42 million via eminent domain this past April. Work has been underway “to reimagine this historic site to meet urgent public facility needs, while honoring the cultural significance of its past and leaving a legacy for future generations,” Princeton Council President Mia Sacks said at the time, adding that community engagement would be part of the process.
Since Rider first announced plans to sell the Princeton campus in 2016, a group of alumni, students, and staff known as the Westminster Foundation has been working to return the Choir College to Princeton, where it was established in 1935. Those efforts included two lawsuits against Rider, related to the merger agreement. Both are being withdrawn.
Constance Fee, president of the Westminster Foundation, said in an email to the Westminster community this week that the Foundation will be among the stakeholders included in discussions about the future.
“In the meantime, current plans for the campus include preserving and maintaining the Quadrangle and Cullen Center buildings, with efforts underway to protect cherished memorials and historical markers,” she said. “After renovations and repairs are completed, spaces on the campus will be available for rental and use by community music and arts groups, including Westminster alumni. Leases will continue for most of the organizations currently renting space
on the campus, and plans for the Westminster Conservatory to remain on the campus are being considered.”
Since its relocation to Rider’s campus and the related uncertainty about its future, the Choir College — considered a world-renowned cultural institution — has seen its enrollment shrink by more than a third. In her letter, Fee acknowledges that the Choir College will never return to Princeton.
Despite that, “The Westminster Foundation remains committed to honoring the history and preserving the legacy of Westminster Choir College,” she said. “We will continue to engage with the Municipality to ensure that Westminster’s contributions to the cultural life of the Princeton community are recognized and the historical significance of the campus is honored.”
Fee thanked Sacks and the Council for their efforts. She also cited the appointment last January of Westminster alumnus Donald Nally as director of choral studies as a positive development.
“While we acknowledge that some recent changes may not be what we had hoped for, we take comfort in knowing that the Municipality is committed to carefully preserving and maintaining the campus and that it will be accessible for future generations,” she said. “We will continue to keep you informed as plans develop.”