Ole Miss hopes presidential debate will spotlight campus progress

They know that for many Americans, Ole Miss means little more than the deadly 1962 riot sparked by the matriculation of the first black student, James Meredith, and the 1990s-era controversy over the display of the Confederate flag at football games.

But if the debate goes off as planned, it will provide the 160-year-old school with the opportunity to show, once and for all, that it has moved beyond its old, infamous and self-destructive reputation as a bastion of white supremacy.

First, of course, the school will have to wait and see if the debate takes place. On Wednesday, Republican presidential nominee John McCain said he would not participate unless Congress approved a bailout package for Wall Street by Friday. The Commission on Presidential Debates said in a statement that it was "moving forward with its plan" for the debate. School officials said they were still prepared to host candidates McCain and Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee.

"The chancellor just said, 'We've been ready for the debate, and we're still ready,' " said Curtis Wilkie, a journalism instructor who helped bring the event to the school.

The university lobbied hard and has spent $5.5 million to prepare. Wilkie, an Ole Miss graduate, said it would be the first time since the 1962 riot that so many reporters would be paying attention to his alma mater. As a result, he said, it would be "the most positive event that's taken place in my lifetime" for Ole Miss.

The school's transformation has been gradual since the riot and the subsequent desegregation of the campus. Some of the most dramatic changes have occurred under the leadership of Robert Khayat, a former Ole Miss football star who became chancellor in 1995.

Khayat, a gregarious man, is a product of the old, segregated Ole Miss; he has used his gridiron clout to placate good-old-boy alumni while nudging Ole Miss into a new era.

Khayat oversaw what was, in effect, a ban on the display of the Confederate flag at football games; the erection of a statue of Meredith; and the creation of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, which promotes positive discussions of race on campus and around the state.