Looks like Franklin Graham may have had something to do with this reversal:
MY FOX CAROLINAS – Duke University is reversing its plan to allow a student group to use the campus’ iconic Chapel bell-tower to perform a Muslim call to prayer.
The university had originally given permission to Muslim MSA to use the bell-tower weekly starting Friday at 1 p.m., according to the report. The Duke Muslim Student Association members were planning to chant the call, known as adhan or azan, from the Duke Chapel bell tower. It was scheduled to last around three minutes and be “moderately amplified,” officials said in a statement Tuesday.
On Thursday, the university reportedly changed its mind and is now asking the student group to setup adjacent to the chapel.
“Duke remains committed to fostering an inclusive, tolerant and welcoming campus for all of its students,” said Duke University vice president for public affairs and government relations. “However, it was clear that what was conceived as an effort to unify was not having the intended effect.”
The school’s initial approval had drawn some criticism, including from Franklin Graham:
“I call on the donors and alumni to withhold their support from Duke until this policy is reversed,” Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, wrote on his Facebook page Wednesday. “As Christianity is being excluded from the public square and followers of Islam are raping, butchering, and beheading Christians, Jews, and anyone who doesn’t submit to their Sharia Islamic law, Duke is promoting this in the name of religious pluralism.”