By Anne Levin

An examination of 2018 first quarter financial results for Beijing Kaiwen Education Technology, the company to which Rider University plans to sell Westminster Choir College, reveals “continued poor performance,” according to a report by an emeritus faculty member of Rider’s College of Business Administration.

Citing numerous sources, Gerald Klein, who was a professor of organizational behavior and management, noted a loss for the quarter of 45 to 55 million Yuan, revised upward from an earlier estimate of 25 to 35 million Yuan that Kaiwen had projected. “Kaiwen’s solvency and continued functioning continues to heavily rely on the infusion of outside funds, a position of risk,” he said in his report. “The company continues to be reliant on the patience, forbearance, and liquidity of its investors and creditors, which includes the Chinese government. Kaiwen has a business model which, by their own admission, will take perhaps years to implement.”

Challenging the report, Rider spokesperson Kristine A. Brown said, “Rider University is confident in Kaiwen Education’s ability to operate Westminster Choir College and we are encouraged by their commitment to address both operating and capital funding needs over the next five years. We have seen reports negatively characterizing Kaiwen Education’s financial condition and we believe these reports are based on incomplete information. As a result of our due diligence, we reach different conclusions. Both Rider and Kaiwen Education look forward to continued progress as we move toward a binding agreement in the near future.”

Westminster, an internationally-known college of music, was ailing financially when Rider College acquired the school in 1991, enabling the name change to Rider University. The University announced last year that it had selected Kaiwen in a $40 million deal to purchase Westminster, pledging that programs and staff for the college and the affiliated Westminster Conservatory would remain in place. But many members of the faculty, alumni, and students are distrustful of the proposal.

Two lawsuits — one filed on behalf of a group of alumni, the other by Princeton Theological Seminary — argue that the sale is in violation of agreements regarding the merger and the original donation of the land, a 23-acre site on Walnut Lane. A group formerly known as the Coalition to Save Westminster Choir College, now a nonprofit called The Westminster Foundation, is working to save the school and is opposed to any sale of the campus.

The Foundation “advocates the re-establishment of an independent Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey,” reads a statement. “If the college is sold to a for-profit enterprise as is planned by Rider University, Westminster’s academic and cultural freedom will be severely threatened, possibly leading to the ultimate loss of this renowned and treasured cultural institution altogether.”

The Foundation is cooperating with the Princeton Theological Seminary in the two litigations to block the sale. The Seminary filed a suit in February in the New Jersey Chancery Division. The alumni filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan last June.

Joel Phillips, who teaches music theory and composition at Westminster and serves as associate grievance officer for Rider’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said that the AAUP chapter continues to monitor the financial conditions of Kaiwen.

“The long story short is that there is not any fundamental change in our assessment of their financial condition,” he said. “The Rider senior administration continues to provide no evidence to the contrary. They simply assert that the company is financially able to do this in the face of all this data that is completely to the contrary.”