Rider University Chapter of the AAUP
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    • Chinese Company Out As Buyer Of Westminster Choir College
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    • Update on Kaiwen Education's Financial Status
    • Arbitration Over Layoffs at WCC
    • Kaiwen Education 2018 Annual Report
    • By Federal Reserve Standards Kaiwen Education is a Highly Leveraged and Risky Business
    • Two Updates on Kaiwen's Finances
    • Due Diligence and Kaiwen Education
    • Chronology of a Crisis
    • WCC Reset
    • New Jersey Attorney General’s Office Delivers Major Setback to Rider University’s Plan to Sell Westminster Choir College
    • Westminster Foundation Press Release on AG Investigation
    • Purchase Agreement
    • Faculty Shocked to Learn Secret Agreement Would Allow Buyer to Close Westminster Choir College
    • Universities as the Guardians of Assets
    • Press Release Kaiwen Finances
    • 2019 Report on Kaiwen
    • DejaVuDellOmo
    • Kaiwen Announcement 1/11/19
    • AAUP Goes to the NJ Assembly
    • Sign the Petition to Save WCC
    • WWCAC Letter November 8 2018
    • Kaiwen Education: Report on Company Performance Through the Third Quarter 2018
    • New Information Reveals Chinese Corporation Plans to Take $20 Million Westminster Choir College Endowment despite Prohibitions Imposed by State/Federal Law
    • More Bad News about Kaiwen
    • Claims v. Reality
    • AAUP Challenges Legitimacy of Newly announced Non-Profit Said To Be Created To Run Westminster Choir College
    • Label Your Stuff!
    • WCC Alumni Council Questions and Answers
    • Statement on Proposed Sale of Westminster Choir College Faculty Union Vows to Continue Oppose ill-conceived Sale of Iconic Music School
    • June 7 Letter to Board
    • A Failure of Due Diligence
    • Bond 2017
    • Chronology of the WCC Crisis
    • Kaiwen Education Technology
    • Pending Legal Actions >
      • Legal Complaints against Rider University over Sale of WCC
    • The Legacy of Westminster Choir College
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      • A Letter to WCC Faculty regarding President Dell'Omo's Letter
      • Open Letter to Board of Trustees
      • Letter to Faculty
      • How a For-profit Company Might Ruin Westminster
      • A Message from AAUP regarding the potential layoff of Westminster Faculty
      • ​Update on Westminster
    • Press Releases >
      • Outrage Over Rider University's Plan To Sell Legendary Choir College To Chinese For-Profit Company With No Experience in Higher Education
      • DellOmo Lays Off Entire WCC Faculty
    • WCC Crisis in the News >
      • The Coalition to Save Westminster Choir College Initiates Spin-Off Discussions With Rider University Administration
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      • Eric Whitacre Praises Westminster
      • Statement of support from NJ Higher Ed Leadership Council.
      • Support for Westminster Choir College
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      • Remarks by Laura Brooks Rice
      • Have American Universities Lost Their Way? by Joel Phillips
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      • A Bargaining Unit Member's Guide to Credo Part 1
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      • Administration Attempts to Bully AAUP Executive Committee
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Faculty Shocked to Learn Secret Agreement Would Allow Buyer to Close Westminster Choir College

Rider University Misled Courts and Stakeholders by Withholding Key Provision Of Purchase and Sale Agreement
 
Union Urges AG to Block Sale of Legendary Music School
​

​​

For Immediate Release
 
Contacts:       
  • Dr. Joel Phillips 609-851-3627
    • Professor of Music Composition and Theory at Westminster Choir College
    • Associate Grievance Officer of the Rider University Chapter of the AAUP
  • Dr. Jeffrey Halpern 609-937-8981
    • Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at Rider University
    • Chief Grievance Officer of the Rider University Chapter of the AAUP



Rider University Chapter
American Association of University Professors
2083 Lawrenceville Road
Lawrenceville NJ 08648
aaup@rider.edu
https://www.rideraaup.net

Lawrenceville, NJ, March 25, 2019 – The union that represents all Rider University and Westminster Choir College faculty expressed shock and outrage today on learning that the secret Purchase and Sale Agreement between Rider University and the Buyer, Kaiwen Education, would allow the Buyer to close Westminster Choir College immediately following a completed sale.
 
Previous public announcements by President Gregory Dell’Omo sought to assure the Westminster and Rider University communities that Kaiwen has promised to keep all Westminster programs intact for five years and maintain its Princeton campus for ten. However, a copy of the Purchase and Sale Agreement obtained by the Westminster Foundation from the New Jersey Attorney General reveals a previously undisclosed provision that allows the Buyer to discontinue Westminster operations if it considers them “impracticable” or “economically infeasible,” notwithstanding contrary commitments contained in the agreement. This provision effectively allows the Buyer at its discretion to negate the five- and ten-year promises at any time.
 
Long-time Westminster faculty member Joel Phillips stated, “This latest revelation fits a continuing pattern of deceit. If the Princeton Theological Seminary and Westminster Foundation weren’t suing Rider, we would never have learned of this provision until it was too late.”
​
Jeff Halpern, the union’s Contract Administrator, stated, “For more than nine months, Rider President Dell'Omo and the Board of Trustees have been assuring the university community, as well as the courts and the media, that there are iron-clad guarantees for the long-term continuation of Westminster. Now we learn that in fact, they negotiated an agreement that allows for the immediate closure of the school. In my opinion, that goes beyond a simple lack of forthrightness to a serious breach of trust.”
 
Halpern added, “It’s not surprising people lose confidence in significant institutions when it becomes normal for their leaders to lie and mislead the public.”
 
For months the AAUP has expressed deep concerns regarding the Buyer’s complete lack of qualifications to operate a world-class music school and its precarious finances {link: https://www.rideraaup.net/2019-report-on-kaiwen.html }. Next month, the Rider AAUP expects to learn the outcome of the arbitration it filed against Rider over the improper layoff of the Westminster faculty.
 
AAUP President Michael Brogan said that “such deception is both appalling and profoundly disrespectful to the members of the Rider community.” He added, “I urge the Attorney General to block the sale of Westminster and end this shameful debacle once and for all.”



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  • Home
  • About
    • Mission Statement
    • Chapter Meeting Minutes
    • Presentations from AAUP Meetings
    • Meeting Dates 21-22
    • Points of Contact
    • AAUP Officers
    • AAUP Awards >
      • Bertram Mott Award
      • Henry J. Frank Award
    • P&T Committee Members
    • APC Committee Members
    • UAPC Committees
    • Training for College/School Academic Policy Committee Members
    • CIM Training Video
    • Membership
    • Assumption of Risk and Waiver Form for Employees that is required for travel funds
  • Contract
  • Grievances
    • Grievance Process
    • Amendments to Grievance Process, Updated April 2016
    • Grievance Procedure Explained
  • Constitution
    • I - Name
    • II - Purpose
    • III - Membership
    • IV - Dues
    • V - Chapter Officers
    • VI - Committees
    • VII - Election of Officers
    • VIII - Removal of Officers
    • IX - Disciplining of Members
    • X - Meetings
    • XI - Contract Ratification
    • XII - Finance
    • XIII - Amendments
  • Saving WCC
    • Decision on Standing Lawsuit
    • AAUP Response to Provost Fredeen's October 2nd Email
    • Important Information on Campus Consolidation
    • Chinese Company Out As Buyer Of Westminster Choir College
    • Kaiwen is Gone
    • Kaiwen Education Reply to a June 2019 Inquiry from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange
    • Update on Kaiwen Education's Financial Status
    • Arbitration Over Layoffs at WCC
    • Kaiwen Education 2018 Annual Report
    • By Federal Reserve Standards Kaiwen Education is a Highly Leveraged and Risky Business
    • Two Updates on Kaiwen's Finances
    • Due Diligence and Kaiwen Education
    • Chronology of a Crisis
    • WCC Reset
    • New Jersey Attorney General’s Office Delivers Major Setback to Rider University’s Plan to Sell Westminster Choir College
    • Westminster Foundation Press Release on AG Investigation
    • Purchase Agreement
    • Faculty Shocked to Learn Secret Agreement Would Allow Buyer to Close Westminster Choir College
    • Universities as the Guardians of Assets
    • Press Release Kaiwen Finances
    • 2019 Report on Kaiwen
    • DejaVuDellOmo
    • Kaiwen Announcement 1/11/19
    • AAUP Goes to the NJ Assembly
    • Sign the Petition to Save WCC
    • WWCAC Letter November 8 2018
    • Kaiwen Education: Report on Company Performance Through the Third Quarter 2018
    • New Information Reveals Chinese Corporation Plans to Take $20 Million Westminster Choir College Endowment despite Prohibitions Imposed by State/Federal Law
    • More Bad News about Kaiwen
    • Claims v. Reality
    • AAUP Challenges Legitimacy of Newly announced Non-Profit Said To Be Created To Run Westminster Choir College
    • Label Your Stuff!
    • WCC Alumni Council Questions and Answers
    • Statement on Proposed Sale of Westminster Choir College Faculty Union Vows to Continue Oppose ill-conceived Sale of Iconic Music School
    • June 7 Letter to Board
    • A Failure of Due Diligence
    • Bond 2017
    • Chronology of the WCC Crisis
    • Kaiwen Education Technology
    • Pending Legal Actions >
      • Legal Complaints against Rider University over Sale of WCC
    • The Legacy of Westminster Choir College
    • Updates and Information Sent to Faculty from AAUP Leadership >
      • A Letter to WCC Faculty regarding President Dell'Omo's Letter
      • Open Letter to Board of Trustees
      • Letter to Faculty
      • How a For-profit Company Might Ruin Westminster
      • A Message from AAUP regarding the potential layoff of Westminster Faculty
      • ​Update on Westminster
    • Press Releases >
      • Outrage Over Rider University's Plan To Sell Legendary Choir College To Chinese For-Profit Company With No Experience in Higher Education
      • DellOmo Lays Off Entire WCC Faculty
    • WCC Crisis in the News >
      • The Coalition to Save Westminster Choir College Initiates Spin-Off Discussions With Rider University Administration
    • Letters of Support for WCC >
      • Eric Whitacre Praises Westminster
      • Statement of support from NJ Higher Ed Leadership Council.
      • Support for Westminster Choir College
    • Teach In at WCC
    • WCC Teach In Audio >
      • Remarks by Laura Brooks Rice
      • Have American Universities Lost Their Way? by Joel Phillips
    • Governance Standards in Institutional Mergers and Acquisitions
  • 2022 Negotiations
    • Negotiation Updates
    • STRIKE FAQ
    • AAUP's Response to Admin's "Critical Need for Change"
    • AAUP v. Admin Proposals
    • CREDO >
      • Admin's Prioritization Report
      • WCC Students Petition DellOmo
      • Dr. Sanjay G. Reddy Speaks to the Chapter
      • A Bargaining Unit Member's Guide to Credo Part 1
      • A Bargaining Unit Member's Guide to Credo Part 2
      • Rider AAUP Executive Committee Recommendations Concerning Credo Consulting
      • Administration Attempts to Bully AAUP Executive Committee
      • Save Rider Rally