Going to the Chapel

I was told, recently, that no public university in the U.S. has built a chapel in the last 50 years. I can't verify that--but I know for sure that one public university is about to do exactly that. From WTKR:

NEWPORT NEWS - A portion of paved parking lot on the Christopher Newport University campus will undergo a transformation this summer when it will be removed to make way for a new chapel surrounded by grass and trees.

The 13,763-square-foot brick building, designed by Nelson Rancorn of Newport News-based Rancorn Wildman Architects, features white Georgian columns and arched windows and has been in the planning stages for more than three years, said CNU President Paul Trible.

With a price tag of about $6 million, the chapel will be built with private funds, a mix of donations, gifts and proceeds from a recent benefit concert that netted more than $1 million.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and the General Assembly approved plans to add a chapel to the campus last year, and college officials and alumni have raised all but $1 million of the total cost. Trible said officials hope to begin construction in late summer.