Westminster Choir College
The Westminster Choir College is, as of 2024, a school of music owned by Rider University since 1992 and currently operated on Rider's main Lawrence, NJ campus. The school resided in Princeton, New Jersey from 1932 until 2020. 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]
Footnotes
- ↑ Historic Westminster Template:Webarchive, 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."
- ↑ Rider University Begins Work on New Westminster Parking Log by Krystal Knapp, Planet Princeton, May 30, 2012.
- ↑ Westminster Gets Its New Parking Lot by Stephen Hiltner on his PrincetonPrimer blog, May 20, 2012.
- ↑ Knapp, Krystal. "NJ Appellate Court Reverses Superior Court Decision, Says Suit Blocking Rider from Closing Westminster Choir College Can Move Forward" Template:Webarchive, Planet Princeton, July 6, 2023. Accessed July 17, 2023.
- ↑ Princeton Council approves ordinance for parking in Westminster Choir College lot Template:Webarchive by Lea Kahn, February 1, 2022 on centraljersey.com.
- ↑ Princeton Extends Agreement With Rider U. For Public Parking Template:Webarchive by Sarah Salvadore, on the Princeton, NJ "Patch", Wed. Sep. 6, 2023