WILLIAMSBURG (AP) -- A cross that was removed from a College of William & Mary chapel to help welcome non-Christian visitors will return to the altar on Sundays, the school's president announced Wednesday.

Controversy erupted in October when President Gene Nichol ordered the 2-foot-high, century-old bronze cross removed from Wren Chapel. He said the cross could be returned to the chapel upon request.

Nichol said then that displaying the Christian cross "sends an unmistakable message that the chapel belongs more fully to some of us than to others."

The chapel is in the Wren Building, which is used for secular meetings, including annual school-wide events for freshmen and seniors.

More than 7,000 people signed an online petition to return the symbol. Earlier this month, the Liberty Counsel, a legal advocacy group with ties to the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, threatened a lawsuit.

In an e-mail Wednesday, Nichol said he doubted his solution would please everyone, but he did want to respond to accusations that he was ignoring the school's religious heritage.

He also approved a permanent plaque to commemorate the historic chapel's Anglican origins.

The Wren Building was finished in 1699. The college became a state institution in 1906.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)