Four years ago, however, they were interested.

In 1996, IOP Executive Director Catherine McLaughlin spoke informally with the head of the debate commission, Janet Brown. when she was at Harvard for an event.

Brown told the IOP that the Forum space was far too small to accommodate the production equipment and journalists that accompany a debate.

"Our facility just isn't large enough for it," McLaughlin said.

The site requirements laid out by the Commission on Presidential Debates are clear: one debate hall of over 17,000 square feet and an adjacent or nearby press hall of the same size. The ARCO Forum's space totals less than 6,000 square feet.

At U-Mass, the basketball gymnasium and the hockey rink are being used for the debate, said U-Mass spokesperson John Hoey.

McLaughlin said the IOP has not considered the Harvard athletic facilities--which are comparable in size--as an option.

"If we did it, we would want to do it in the Forum," she said, adding that it was the only space over which the IOP has full control. However, McLaughin said that if there was cooperation from the University or the College, the athletic facilities might work s a potential location.