University of Mississippi. Dept. of Archives and Special Collections.
In 2003, the University of Mississippi (UM) considered applying to host a presidential debate in 2004. However, since the election contest would involve an incumbent president, the stringency of Secret Service requirements was too prohibitive. Instead, university administrators pursued the possibility of hosting a debate during the 2008 election. Representatives from the U.S. Commission on Presidential Debates visited the campus to determine the feasibility of the site and encouraged the university to make a formal application.
In November 2007, the Commission announced that the University of Mississippi would host the first presidential debate on 26 September 2008. Soon afterwards, the university administration requested faculty, staff, and students to develop academic courses and programming related to the debate and the election. In the end, the university officially sponsored over ninety events and nineteen courses.
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