FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 31, 2017
FOR INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Dr. Elizabeth Scheiber
President, Rider University Chapter of AAUP,
609-672-1573; AAUP office: aaup@rider.edu
PRINCETON, N.J., Oct. 31, 2017 — Rider University President Gregory Dell’Omo struck another blow to faculty today when he delivered layoff notices by email to the entire teaching staff of the renowned Westminster Choir College.
The layoff notices anticipate the sale of the entire college next spring to an undisclosed buyer or its potential closure. The potential buyer is described publicly only as an Asian corporation that has no experience or accreditation in higher education but runs foreign, for-profit K-12 schools. All professors would be laid off as of August 31, 2018.
The Rider chapter of the American Association of University Professors, the faculty union, will file a grievance arguing that the layoffs fail to meet contractual requirements. The agreement with the union specifies that layoffs can occur only in cases of “financial exigency or the demonstrated financial need to eliminate or curtail programs or courses of instruction to protect the well-being of the university.”
Dr. Jeffrey Halpern, a sociology professor who is chief grievance officer for the union, said it is clear Rider has no financial emergency because “this year’s independent audited financial statement found a $5.5 million increase in net assets." He expects the grievance will be referred to arbitration.
"Faculty also condemn the secretive nature of a sale process in which they’ve had no voice and that violates the AAUP’s national standards for mergers and acquisitions,” he added.
Union leaders will respond to the layoff announcements in a news conference at 1:00 PM on Thursday, November 2nd, in Taylor Hall room 3 on the Westminster campus. "We will be organizing direct actions to protest the administration’s decision,” said Dr. Elizabeth Scheiber, professor of French and Italian at Westminster and president of Rider's faculty union.
In 2015, Dell’Omo announced elimination of faculty positions and programs of study on the main campus in Lawrenceville. These cuts were rescinded after significant faculty concessions followed by further, deeper concessions from faculty in bargaining for the 2017-2020 contract.
The latest unprecedented actions began when Dell’Omo and the Board of Trustees put Westminster Choir College and Conservatory up for sale last winter, a move that has already produced emotional protests on both Rider campuses, spurred two lawsuits filed by students, parents, friends, and donors, and contributed to an overwhelming no-confidence vote in Dell’Omo by the entire university faculty on April 11.
With an unsurpassed international reputation in choral music, the choir college has had a home on 23 acres in the center of Princeton since 1932. It has received three Grammy Awards and currently has three Grammy nominations. The women of the Westminster Symphonic Choir are presently in rehearsal with the Philadelphia Orchestra for performances of Holst’s The Planets Nov. 2-4 in Verizon Hall.
The Westminster Conservatory, one of the nation’s largest community music schools, provides private music lessons and classes to hundreds of children and adults at five sites from South Brunswick, N.J., to Yardley, Pa.
October 31, 2017
FOR INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Dr. Elizabeth Scheiber
President, Rider University Chapter of AAUP,
609-672-1573; AAUP office: aaup@rider.edu
PRINCETON, N.J., Oct. 31, 2017 — Rider University President Gregory Dell’Omo struck another blow to faculty today when he delivered layoff notices by email to the entire teaching staff of the renowned Westminster Choir College.
The layoff notices anticipate the sale of the entire college next spring to an undisclosed buyer or its potential closure. The potential buyer is described publicly only as an Asian corporation that has no experience or accreditation in higher education but runs foreign, for-profit K-12 schools. All professors would be laid off as of August 31, 2018.
The Rider chapter of the American Association of University Professors, the faculty union, will file a grievance arguing that the layoffs fail to meet contractual requirements. The agreement with the union specifies that layoffs can occur only in cases of “financial exigency or the demonstrated financial need to eliminate or curtail programs or courses of instruction to protect the well-being of the university.”
Dr. Jeffrey Halpern, a sociology professor who is chief grievance officer for the union, said it is clear Rider has no financial emergency because “this year’s independent audited financial statement found a $5.5 million increase in net assets." He expects the grievance will be referred to arbitration.
"Faculty also condemn the secretive nature of a sale process in which they’ve had no voice and that violates the AAUP’s national standards for mergers and acquisitions,” he added.
Union leaders will respond to the layoff announcements in a news conference at 1:00 PM on Thursday, November 2nd, in Taylor Hall room 3 on the Westminster campus. "We will be organizing direct actions to protest the administration’s decision,” said Dr. Elizabeth Scheiber, professor of French and Italian at Westminster and president of Rider's faculty union.
In 2015, Dell’Omo announced elimination of faculty positions and programs of study on the main campus in Lawrenceville. These cuts were rescinded after significant faculty concessions followed by further, deeper concessions from faculty in bargaining for the 2017-2020 contract.
The latest unprecedented actions began when Dell’Omo and the Board of Trustees put Westminster Choir College and Conservatory up for sale last winter, a move that has already produced emotional protests on both Rider campuses, spurred two lawsuits filed by students, parents, friends, and donors, and contributed to an overwhelming no-confidence vote in Dell’Omo by the entire university faculty on April 11.
With an unsurpassed international reputation in choral music, the choir college has had a home on 23 acres in the center of Princeton since 1932. It has received three Grammy Awards and currently has three Grammy nominations. The women of the Westminster Symphonic Choir are presently in rehearsal with the Philadelphia Orchestra for performances of Holst’s The Planets Nov. 2-4 in Verizon Hall.
The Westminster Conservatory, one of the nation’s largest community music schools, provides private music lessons and classes to hundreds of children and adults at five sites from South Brunswick, N.J., to Yardley, Pa.