A Passport to Success or Failure: Creation of the CHANCE Program

During the 1960s, racial tensions in the United States were high. On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, sending shockwaves across the country, and instigating racial violence (Boissoneault, 2018). In response, Black students at Northern Illinois University (NIU) gathered in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium to honor Dr. King’s memory and discussed the racial injustices they experienced, leading the students to raise a black flag outside the auditorium and demanded change (NIU, 1969b)

Scanned image from NIU Yearbook of a black flag being raised outside of the Carl Sandberg Auditorium with a poem on the bottom of the image.

Black flag raised outside the Carl Sandburg Auditorium

(NIU, 1969b, p. 317).

Photograph of several Black NIU students presenting President Smith with their list of demands.

Black NIU students presented President Smith with their list of demands

(NIU, 1969b, p. 321)

In 1968, Black students at NIU made up 1.5% of the student body (NIU, n.d.b). This was often due to applicants being “screened out” due to a lacking high school environment and by extension performance (CHANCE Program, 1969). On May 10, 1968, around 100 Black students held a sit-in at Lowden Hall, where Jerry Durley, a graduate student, and Noble Harris, the president of NIU’s Afro-American Cultural Organization presented President Smith with a list of seven demands (NIU, 1969b). 

These demands aligned with the Program for Racial Justice that President Smith was designing, prompting him to create a new program called Complete Help and Assistance Necessary for a College Education, commonly known as the CHANCE program (NIU, 1969a). NIU also created courses focused on racism and African American history, established the Center for Black Studies, and appointed three new Black administrators to address these grievances (NIU, n.d.a). 

Photo of McKinley “Deacon” Davis, creator and administrator of the CHANCE Program mid-conversation with someone else. He is holding a pencil and looking at the person he's talking to.

McKinley “Deacon” Davis, creator and administrator of the CHANCE Program

(NIU, 1969b, p. 39).

Photo of 2 people sitting on couches, with Jerry Durley, CHANCE administrator, with NIU during the program orientation seemingly on the person in focus.

Jerry Durley, CHANCE administrator, with NIU during the program orientation

(NIU, n.d.b). 

CHANCE was created in 1968 by McKinley “Deacon” Davis, along with Jerry Durley and Robert Sterns (Doederline, 2021). The goal of CHANCE was to support minoritized, inner-city students and ensure they had the opportunity to earn a college diploma, which, “seems to be a passport to success or failure.” (CHANCE Program, 1969, p. 1). The program recruited and admitted students under an alternative admissions criterion, provided advising, counseling and specialized instruction to students (Davis, n.d.). Davis said, “the root of the problem is that universities are geared to the needs of white middle class student.” (NIU, 1969b, p. 39). It is through these resources that CHANCE students would receive the support that was missing in the greater university environment. 
White students' racism and desire to keep the status quo were thinly vailed behind concerns of fairness and high academic standards (NIU, 1969b). However, as the CHANCE program continued their work it became evident, “that by putting the specially motivated teachers with specially motivated students, one appears to obtain especially desirable results.” (NIU, 1969a, p. 8). CHANCE represented NIU’s promise to create opportunities for students from all backgrounds, especially those whose education was hindered due to systemic racism. 

Photo of a couple dozen NIU students who are part of the CHANCE program standing outside on stairs dressed up and holding a certificate to celebrate graduation.

NIU students that are a part of the CHANCE program celebrating graduation

(NIU, 2024)

The CHANCE Program at NIU was born out of a moment of grief and frustration but grew into a long-lasting commitment to justice and opportunity. CHANCE became a model for how to support students from all backgrounds (NIU, 1969a). The impact of the CHANCE program can be summed up with the words of a CHANCE alum, “this program gave me life.” (Siddiqui, 2018).

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