The chapel’s associate dean for religious life, Christy Lohr Sapp, said before the plans were canceled that the move showed the school’s commitment to religious pluralism. In a column written for the News and Observer in Raleigh, Lohr Sapp acknowledged the headlines generated by violence by extremists in ISIS, Boko Haram and al-Qaida, contrasting it to what’s happening on campus.

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Duke University canceled its plan to use a chapel tower for a weekly call to prayer for Muslims after getting bombarded with calls and emails from alumni and others, officials said Thursday.

Instead, Muslims will gather for their call to prayer in a grassy area in front of the chapel before heading into a room in the chapel for their weekly prayer service. The university had initially said a moderately amplified call to prayer would be read by members of the Muslim Students Association from the tower for about three minutes each Friday.

Schoenfeld said it would up to the students if they want to use some sort of speaker or megaphone.

“There was considerable traffic and conversation and even a little bit of confusion, both within the campus and certainly outside, about what Duke was doing,” said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations. “The purposes and goals and even the facts had been so mischaracterized as to turn it into a divisive situation, not a unifying situation.”

The plan drew the ire of evangelist Franklin Graham, the son of the Rev. Billy Graham, who urged Duke alumni to withhold support because of violence against Christians that he attributed to Muslims. He wrote on Facebook that the decision is playing out as “Christianity is being excluded from the public square.”

He wrote later in the day that the university made the right decision to cancel. However, Schoenfeld said the reversal was not based solely on Graham’s opposition.

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