By the mid-1970s, NIU was attracting a significant number of “older” students: in 1974 more than 7,000 NIU students were over the age of 25. Many were married, and more than a few had children.
President Richard Nelson recruited a Campus Child Care Committee to study the issue, but he didn’t have to look far to find a point person to champion the cause: his wife, Shirley W. Nelson, was a skilled community organizer with a passion for children’s issues.
Mrs. Nelson had been active with the Evanston 4-C (Community Coordinated Child Care) agency, and wanted to help bring one to DeKalb. She joined a fledgling group of organizers and dove into the writing of a federal grant that ultimately brought coordinated child care to DeKalb and a six-county region around it.
Nelson went on to serve on the 4C board, as a board member and officer of the Children’s Learning Center, and as chair of the pre-school committee in the Kishwaukee Right-to-Read program, among other child-related causes.
“She was absolutely fearless and tireless and committed,” said Beverly Hasan, recalling Shirley Nelson’s efforts to secure a campus child care program for NIU.
The plan was not without opposition, Hasan explained in a 1987 Northern Today article. “Many speakers appeared before the city council saying mothers should be in the home. And even in the 1970s, some considered it radical to have little children on campus.”
Under her guidance and with a dedicated group of faculty, staff and student volunteers, the committee rented space for a one-year pilot program in 1977 in the basement of St. Paul’s church on Normal Road. The program accepted children 6 weeks to 5 years of age, and limited enrollment to no more than 30 children of full-time NIU students. Parents paid on a sliding scale, but the published price was $1 per hour for a maximum of five hours per day. The program received some federal dollars and was supplemented by paid scholarships from the United Way.
In the meantime, Provost Bill Monat asked architects working on Gabel Hall remodeling to create space in Room 170 and four adjacent rooms for a child care program. The Campus Childcare Committee submitted a funding request to the Student Association for start-up costs of $12,000 (enough to pay a director, a full-time teacher and two part-time teachers) and cover utilities and janitorial services.
The SA enthusiastically approved the expenditure, and the NIU Campus Child Care program was officially established in 1978 in a 1,800-square foot space in Gabel Hall.
Its first director was Christina McKillip-Beheiry, a child development expert from Michigan State University. Within three years, the center was serving 50 full-time and 10 part-time student parents and three faculty parents.
From the beginning, the NIU Campus Child Care Center was well-served by community resources such as 4C and the County Health Department, which together provided visiting nurses, social workers and administrative expertise, as well as testing and consultation services.
The system worked because it was coordinated, as Shirley Nelson had fought for it to be.
On April 9, 1987, a ceremony took place to name the center in honor of the person who had worked hardest to make it a reality. For bringing support and peace of mind to hundreds of NIU students, the facility in Gabel Hall was called the Shirley W. Nelson Campus Child Care Center.
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