A Debatable Return: Colleges spend millions on playing host to presidential debates. What do they get out of it?

Four hours or so before the first presidential debate gets under way here at the University of Miami, Donna Shalala flits among the 135 students gathered in the lobby outside her second-floor office. Sporting a Miami-green jacket, the university’s president works the crowd –Ã? the lucky few chosen to attend tonight’s 90-minute debate.