When former President Jimmy Carter said last week that the invitation to have him speak in the Shapiro Gymnasium had "gotten almost as much publicity" as his inaugural address in 1977, he wasn't exaggerating as much as many in the audience might have thought. Tuesday's speech was among his most publicized appearances in the last decade, perhaps even more so than his 2002 visit to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. It was certainly the most publicity Brandeis has received in a while-even after a year of somewhat frequent appearances in the local media for several "controversies." Carter, after all, was the highest-profile visitor to the campus since the Dalai Lama delivered a commencement speech in 1998. I won't even touch on whether or not he's the most contentious; what he wrote and said wasn't as important as what he represented, but more on that later. Nevertheless, regardless of your opinions on his recent book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, you have to admit that "Cartermania" swept campus this month.

But there's something more, something very "Brandeis" about Cartermania. True, the level of excitement over a former U.S. President would be high at any university. There have only been 43 presidents, and only four men alive today have called the Oval Office "mine." But here, it was a huge freakin' deal, especially because Carter espouses opinions that many, if not most, on this campus oppose-and while it may be typical for most Brandeis students to disagree with the current President, it does feel sort of strange in response to a Democrat.

President Carter represented the "typical" college experience that so many here find lacking. For whatever reason, lots of students here are embarrassed or regretful about their choice of university. But when Carter came and Alan Dershowitz disputed, the little barrier most of us feel pressing in on us was nonexistent, even if only for an afternoon.

Brandeis, being a young university, could be said to be in its "tween" years, emerging into its adolescence as an institution, complete with identity crises and growing pains. During the question-and-answer sessions, however, both speakers were interrogated critically and maturely. The scene in the Shapiro Gym seemed to be from a movie or television show or, at the very least, news coverage of an event at one of the Ivies-but certainly not from here.

Just for one day, the expression "That's so Brandeis!" only applied to one aspect of the event-because, let's face it, if Brandeis weren't Brandeis, Carter wouldn't have come. But it was nice to see that the phrase didn't apply to the students.

There was more than that, though. Brandeis was front and center in the next day's media, and for once, it was more than just The Boston Globe-CNN, The New York Times and the Associated Press all had major stories about the visit-and while some facts were skewed a little, I suppose it's the thought that counts. We're not used to that kind of attention, and regardless of whether you think it was a good idea to invite either Carter, Dershowitz or both, it felt good to be in the national spotlight, for once.

To bring things closer to home, the day's events were, at least for me, a breath of fresh air on a campus where certain groups-those that are Zionist in nature-are unused to being on the defensive. It's good to mix things up, even for an afternoon. And if the former President's visit encourages the pro-Palestinian students on this campus to become more vocal, so much the better.

Debate is important, much more so than majorities often realize. Without an opposing viewpoint, the proponents of any side of a debate will deteriorate into complacency, even if they actually are on the "right" side. At virtually any other university, a pro-Israel group would be the underdog.

Last Tuesday, Cartermania gave everyone the opportunity to experience a little bit of life at "other" universities.