By Paul A. Anthony, Editor in Chief

A small group of students sat on the university mall Tuesday morning and conducted a chapel in protest of what they said is a lack of student involvement in recent Chapel decisions.

“Worship on the Mall” attracted about 65 students, and its organizers said they were happy with the turnout.

“I was pleased,” said Katrina Keichline, junior Christian ministry major from Cheshire, Conn. “I’m glad there weren’t any people speaking out and taking it in a direction other than where we planned.”

The event was planned in conjunction with gender Chapel, which Barnard said already is not well-attended. About 400 people attended women’s Chapel in Moody Coliseum, while fewer men attended their version.

In total, about 1,000 students, less than a quarter of the student body, attended an official Chapel Tuesday.

The three students-Keichline; Aubrey Eyer, junior English major from Grapevine; and Clara Goodson, junior secondary education major from Glen Rose-planned the chapel earlier this month after deciding students were not being involved enough in decisions made by the Chapel Programming Team and Chapel Task Force.

“We felt like the most important thing was to address student involvement,” Eyer said. “No one is ever going to agree, but we felt it was important to voice our concerns.”

The group sent e-mails to the student body Wednesday, but the chapel plans were finalized when the students met with Wayne Barnard, dean of Campus Life, Friday afternoon.

Barnard said canceling the chapel wasn’t considered.

“That wasn’t my intention, ever,” he said. “I’m not against appropriate demonstration.”

Barnard said turnout to the protest would have little effect on Chapel policy because it doesn’t appear the student body has a united opinion on the issue.

“How do you make meaning of what happens? It’s impossible,” he said. “It’ll be one more confusing statement out there.”

One aspect of the confusion is the number of opinions about Chapel voiced by the students-from concerns about program direction to questions about future plans.

“My sense is that the various opinions on Chapel are multi-faceted,” said Dr. Royce Money, university president. “There’s not one singular voice among the students. It’s pretty fractured and different.”

The three organizers of Tuesday’s alternate chapel said their qualm is clear: not enough students are being heard on either the Programming Team, which programs the theme and direction of daily Chapel, or the Task Force, which is considering long-term changes to Chapel policy.

“Our hope is that, whatever the diverse opinions we may hold about Chapel, we can come together to speak for more student involvement in both the day-to-day affairs of Chapel, as well as the long-term direction that it may take,” the e-mail said.

The Programming Team includes three students, although one is deployed overseas; the Task Force is in the process of selecting the students for its committees.

What affect the protest had on attendance is unclear. Many students said they didn’t attend the alternate chapel only because they already had too many absences.

“I heard about the protest Chapel and I was going to go but then they told me that I’d get an absence,” said Adam McDonough, junior biochemistry major from Enterprise, Ala. “I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to go to Chapel anyway, so I might as well get credit for it.'”

Other students felt differently.

“I went to Chapel because I had to,” said Heath Drummell, senior youth and family ministry major from Center Point. ” If I didn’t have to go to Chapel, I wouldn’t, but I do enjoy Chapel more this year. I’m protesting the protest chapel.”

Nine students interviewed while leaving gender Chapels said they didn’t go to the alternate chapel because they had too many absences.

Honors Chapel also affected attendance at the other three.

“If you plan to be a part of the Chapel protest on Tuesday, you could still come to Honors Chapel and not sign in,” said an e-mail to honor students sent earlier this week by Jonathan Wade, assistant director of the Honors Program. “That would be even more subversive, don’t you think?”

Melanie J. Knox contributed to this report