Oxford, Miss. — The news that the first presidential debate will go on tonight as planned was a relief for many students and employees of the University of Mississippi here, where plans for the logistically complex, more than $5-million event have been in process for well over a year.

Robert C. Khayat, chancellor of the university, was in an interview at about 10:30 a.m. with a Los Angeles radio station when he heard the news from the broadcasters interviewing him that John McCain said he would indeed travel to the campus for the debate. Two student journalists with the college’s newspaper, The Daily Mississippian, were with the chancellor in his office at the time and gave him a thumbs up.

Mr. Khayat said he was never stressed or worried that the debate wouldn’t occur. “I certainly feel more comfortable,” he said after receiving confirmation that both candidates would appear. “But when you’re 70 years old, you have to live on faith, and I live on faith.” He added that he had always intended that playing host to the debate would be a learning experience for students, and the last-minute uncertainty might help “teach all of us lessons about flexibility, about adjusting, about staying the course.”

Linda Peal, the chancellor’s speechwriter, says she and others had this morning started discussing what kind of event the university might hold if only Barack Obama, and not Senator McCain, showed up. She and others began combing through lists of students (including student journalists, students in the honors college, students in political-science courses, and students who had received tickets to attend the debate) to find some who might begin brainstorming questions they would want to ask Senator Obama in a town-hall-style event. They had managed to round up about 100 students, she said. But before they could meet, the news came in that the contingency planning could end.

“We’re delighted that things are going on as planned,” she said. “We always thought they would, and now they are.”