Twitter poll finds majority against campus merger
By Gianluca D’Elia
A Twitter poll from The Rider News account found that a majority of users were opposed to the one-campus model that the university administration considered for Rider and Westminster Choir College (WCC).
Ultimately, the university’s Board of Trustees decided against merging the campuses. They will start looking for another institution to take over Westminster.
The poll, which opened at about 9:30 a.m. on March 23, asked, “Would you support Rider University and Westminster Choir College merging to one campus?”
Seventy-six percent of voters were against the merger, 14 percent supported it, and 10 percent were unsure. By March 28 at 10 a.m. when the poll closed, 814 users had answered. The university made its decision later that day.
The Rider News’ poll was not for scientific purposes, but rather to gain insight on how the community felt about the upcoming decision. Votes on Twitter polls are anonymous.
Some flaws in Twitter polls include the potential for repeat votes. A user can only vote once, so it is not possible to vote repeatedly with that one account. In a college community, however, many students have both a personal account and a professional account, giving them two accounts they could potentially vote from. Also, it is likely that not all of the voters were members of the Rider and Westminster community.
“The thing that makes my alma mater so special is its unique atmosphere,” said alumna Rachel Tanenblatt. “Changing campuses would compromise the reputation of WCC.”
