Westminster Choir College

| Main Article
| Discussion
| Related Articles  [?]
| Bibliography  [?]
| External Links  [?]
| Citable Version  [?]

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

[edit intro]

Williamson Hall at the heart of the former Princeton, NJ campus that is now relegated to being used mostly as remote parking for the downtown area.

The Westminster Choir College (WCC) is a school of music located (as of 2024) on Rider's main Lawrence, NJ campus as part of its College of Arts and Sciences. Westminster Choir College has been owned by Rider University since 1992 and resided for 88 years (1932-2020) on a large campus (standing mostly unused as of 2024) right in town in Princeton, New Jersey. Before relocating to Princeton, the school resided in Dayton, Ohio, and then briefly in Ithaca, New York.[1]

In 2012, Rider pushed through a controversial parking lot expansion on the Princeton campus that required cutting old-growth trees and was strenuously opposed by neighbors.[2][3]

In 2019, Rider (which is located in Lawrence Township) attempted to sell the Princeton choir college campus to a Chinese company, resulting in a public outcry and the prevention of that sale.

In 2020, Rider moved all activities of Westminster Choir College from Princeton to its Lawrenceville campus. Westminster Choir College's Princeton campus is now largely unused while legal wrangling continues about the future of its Princeton campus and academic program.[4]

As of 2023, Princeton is paying Rider $1000 per month to lease overflow parking at the Choir College; the town then sells the parking rights for $30 per month to businesses, residents and non-residents. The Choir College parking is a few blocks' walk from downtown.[5][6] The Princeton campus is still being used by Westminster Conservatory (Rider's community music school) for outside rentals and for a small number of Westminster Choir College rehearsals and performances. The future of the campus continues to be uncertain, as Rider University is being sued in two separate lawsuits involving alumni, faculty, students, and the Princeton Theological Seminary.[7][8]

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ Historic Westminster, Westminster Choir College. Accessed August 29, 2014. "Relocated in Princeton, N.J., in 1932, it added a master's program in 1934 and became known as Westminster Choir College in 1939."
2. ↑ Rider University Begins Work on New Westminster Parking Log by Krystal Knapp, Planet Princeton, May 30, 2012.
3. ↑ Westminster Gets Its New Parking Lot by Stephen Hiltner on his PrincetonPrimer blog, May 20, 2012.
4. ↑ Knapp, Krystal. "NJ Appellate Court Reverses Superior Court Decision, Says Suit Blocking Rider from Closing Westminster Choir College Can Move Forward", Planet Princeton, July 6, 2023. Accessed July 17, 2023.
5. ↑ Princeton Council approves ordinance for parking in Westminster Choir College lot by Lea Kahn, February 1, 2022 on centraljersey.com.
6. ↑ Princeton Extends Agreement With Rider U. For Public Parking by Sarah Salvadore, on the Princeton, NJ "Patch", Wed. Sep. 6, 2023
7. ↑ Siock, Sarah. Princeton campus remains unsold a year after two lawsuit dismissals, March 31, 2021.
8. ↑ Kahn, Leah. Battle of Westminster Choir College move continues, July 12, 2023.