(AP) - A New Jersey university says it won't go through with a $40 million deal to sell its music college to a Chinese company.

Lawrenceville-based Rider University instead will operate Westminster Choir College in Princeton for the 2019-2020 school year, then integrate the college into its main campus in the fall of 2020.

Rider had signed a purchase and sale agreement with Kaiwen Education in June 2018. But the university announced Monday that the two sides had mutually agreed to not extend the agreement and instead will explore an "alternative relationship" between the two entities.

Rider's decision to seek a buyer for the school had spurred protests by students and faculty, as well as legal challenges. The state attorney general's office had delayed the pending sale in March, saying Rider had not fully answered questions about the deal.