Project 100 History
Project 100 was one of several Office of Special Projects programs at University of Detroit. Project 100 grew out of the University’s Aim High Program that was been initiated in the summer of 1967. Project 100 was a college-level program designed to identity inner-city public and parochial high school graduates with high academic potential who otherwise were unable to attend University of Detroit for financial and/or academic reasons. Project 100 was distinguished from the other Special Projects programs, including Aim High, Upward Bound and the Independent College Opportunity Program, because it went beyond the usual admission with financial assistance programs.
The 10 year pilot program was initially privately funded by the New Detroit Committee and the James and Lynelle Holden Fund. Eligible students also received federal and state dollars from the Federal Educational Opportunities Program and the Michigan Tuition Assistance Grant. 
The criteria for selection included a combination of grade point average, test score performance, financial need and motivation to succeed in college. The major consideration was the potential to do college work, regardless of how latent the talent. Project 100 students were regularly admitted to U of D.
The Project 100 curriculum was specially designed to provide remedial assistance and to carry the students forward into new areas of academic inquiry. Students participated in a six-week summer session followed by a four-day per week academic year program. In the first year of the program, 100 students (80% African American and 20% Caucasian) were selected from 700 applications and enrolled in Fall 1968. The enrollment of a large number of African American students did not go unnoticed and was not without conflict, internally and externally. Newspaper articles of the time chronicled the student’s progression. The record of success includes:
- Term-to-Term Retention (year 1) – 100%
- Retention rate (year 1 to year 2 - 97%
- Average GPA 2.6 (year 1)
- (rest of freshmen class 2.1)
- Seven Students on Dean’s List (year 1)
- 48% of first class earned degree in four years
- 62% of first class earned degree in five years
- Approximately 10% of first class on dean’s list at least once
- 81% of 500 students admitted were still enrolled at U-D in 1972
Project 100 students made an impact on U of D inside and outside the classroom. A lasting influence of Project 100 is the Black Madonna statue, dedicated by the Archbishop of Detroit, and presently located between the Briggs and Commerce & Finance buildings. Project 100 students commissioned and raised funds to secure the statue as a religious artifact “more relevant to black students.”