By all accounts, the debate was a rousing success. The message of change was heard. The university’s Web site saw a quarter of a million visits. The event was mentioned in thousands of stories by newspapers in countries, such as Tajikstan and Burma, that may never before have published the words “the University of Mississippi.”

“I think the people of Mississippi can say we are proud that the world has had an opportunity to see the new South, the new Ole Miss and the new Mississippi,” Vice Chancellor for University Relations Gloria Kellum told CNN the morning after the debate.

One tangible benefit for the university is that many of the technological upgrades required for the debate remain in place for the use of faculty, staff and students. For example, 75 of the 180 big-screen televisions used by media to cover the debate now sit in Ole Miss classrooms. Internet network equipment installed in the Ford Center has been moved elsewhere on campus. Permanent wireless service is available at the Ford Center and Music Building. Conduit and fiber enhancements are in place for future large-scale events.

Other outcomes of the debate are less concrete but no less important. One of the more touching comments came from respected CBS journalist Bob Schieffer, who returned to campus for the first time since covering the campus riots in 1962. His first visit, he said, was he single most terrifying assignment of his life, but he found a very different campus in 2008.

“As I walked across the Ole Miss campus Friday, it helped me understand that in less than my lifetime we have also come a very long way,” he said. “It was a fine debate, but it was so much more. It was a significant moment in American history.”

The Cirlot Agency, which assisted in debate public relations efforts, estimated that media coverage before and after the event was the equivalent of $35 million in advertising.

For Ole Miss, it was a few days in the international spotlight that changed 40 years of perception. It was, quite simply, a defining moment.