Newswise — More than 65 miles of wiring must be installed to provide hundreds of new workstations, classrooms must be converted to offices, more than a half-mile of fencing must be erected, and wireless Internet capabilities must be added to the performing arts center and several nearby buildings, and an army of visitors must be housed and fed.
These are just a few of the logistical challenges being tackled by the University of Mississippi as it prepares to host the first presidential debate of 2008, just a bit more than five months away. Nearly a dozen university and community committees have begun working on the infrastructure upgrades, programming and all the minute details that must be completed in that time.
"This is a huge undertaking," said Andy Mullins, executive assistant to the chancellor. "We've never experienced anything quite like this at Ole Miss."
Sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates, the Sept. 26 event is to be broadcast live from the Ford Center for the Performing Arts. An estimated 3,000 journalists from around the world are expected, and all of them need not only a place to work but also telephones, Internet access and more.
"One of our biggest challenges is providing the technology to thousands of media and making sure it is flawless," said Mullins, also UM's liaison to the debate commission. "It's an enormous task, but our team will make it happen. This is a tremendous opportunity for us on a worldwide stage."
The UM Office of Information Technology's biggest upgrade will be to the campus network and telecommunications infrastructure, said deputy chief information officer Robin Miller. While the university already provides required services, the added volume will overwhelm existing systems, making it necessary to design and install additional infrastructure.
"High-speed data, video and phone services that are built to withstand any possible outage are critical," Miller said. "Once all these things are in place, we will have to provide support for all users should they encounter any problems. And after the debate is over, the entire community will enjoy the benefits of our enhanced capabilities."
To make sure the debate goes off without a hitch and that it's properly promoted to the world, UM has enlisted the aid of EventWorks, a Cleveland-based media event specialist, and The Cirlot Agency, a Jackson, Miss.-based marketing, public relations and corporate communications firm.
The entire production could cost more than $4 million, but UM Chancellor Robert Khayat has recruited foundation and corporate sponsors so that no tax dollars are being spent, Mullins said.
When the candidates face off at the Ford Center, the debate topic will be domestic issues. This provides faculty members with opportunities to share their expertise through public programs and media interviews.
"We have several institutes and centers " the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, Trent Lott Leadership Institute and Croft Institute for International Studies, among others " that are helping find solutions to our country's challenges," Khayat said. "We look forward to sharing the insights they have developed."
Inside the 1,250-seat hall, hundreds of seats will be temporarily removed to make way for camera platforms and equipment. Most of the remaining seats will be taken by media, campaign staffers and political party officials, so several events are being planned at other locations to make the debate as meaningful as possible to students and local residents.
UM students have submitted more than a dozen event proposals, said Jake McGraw, a junior public policy leadership major and co-chair of the Presidential Debate Student Steering Committee.
"The student events range from hosting a ball to welcome journalists and dignitaries to town to sponsoring a summer book club featuring the candidates' autobiographies," McGraw said. "We're also working to bring 'The Daily Show' or 'The Colbert Report' to campus before the debate, host a televised town hall forum for college students across the country and hold a festival in the Grove that would feature a series of speakers and musical acts. The students are enthusiastic."
The Oxford community is also joining in on the action. Mayor Richard Howorth said committees have been formed to address everything from incorporating American presidential curriculum into area schools to developing a Web site for residents to apply to list condos and townhomes available for rent by journalists expected to besiege a town with only 700 hotel rooms.
"We simply want to put our best foot forward," Howorth said. "The entire world will be watching us, and we want to leave a positive impression on them for generations to come."
Under Khayat's leadership since 1995, Ole Miss has grown from a small, public liberal arts college into a great American public university. The university's endowment has more than quadrupled to $495 million, enrollment has increased 40 percent, minority enrollment has increased 57 percent, sponsored research funding more than doubled to top $100 million for six straight years, and more than $400 million has been spent in new construction and restoration of buildings on the Oxford campus.
Established in 1848 and affectionately known as Ole Miss, UM is a research-extensive, doctoral degree-granting comprehensive university, the state's flagship institution of higher learning. More than 15,100 students are enrolled on the Oxford, Southaven and Tupelo campuses, and another 2,200 are at the UM Medical Center in Jackson.
But nothing in the university's 160-year history compares to the presidential debate in terms of complexity or opportunity. The night of Sept. 26 promises to forever change perceptions of Oxford and Ole Miss, providing a platform to launch the town and university to new levels of greatness.
For more information on debate-related activities at UM, go to http://debate.olemiss.edu.
(tobie baker)
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