Duke Students

DURHAM, N.C.--The superintendent of Durham City Schools has asked five Duke University students to return to their jobs as tutors, three weeks after he dismissed them for questioning the legality of a prayer at an elementary school assembly.

Duke senior Jed Schutz had approached the school board chairman after the assembly and warned her that the prayer might not be constitutional in light of the Supreme Court's stance on school prayer.

The prayer, written by Thomas Jefferson, concluded with, "In Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, Amen."

Teachers at the school criticized Schutz for questioning the prayer's legality, and Cleveland Hammonds, school superintendent, asked the Duke students to stop tutoring.

Hammonds then reinstated the program and invited the tutors back, saying the loss of the program would hurt both the elementary schools and the tutors themselves.