It took more than a month of fervent debate over the circumstances of his visit, but Jimmy Carter, the country’s 39th president, agreed to speak at Brandeis this semester, after a panel of students and faculty extended an invitation to him.

What’s more, the man who through the whole debate has been framed as Carter’s arch nemesis, Alan Dershowitz, may yet have his chance to rebut the former president’s views on campus (See “Dershowitz certain he will speak at Brandeis”).

Carter on Jan. 10 accepted the invitation to speak and answer questions about his recent controversial book, Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid. He is scheduled to speak Jan. 23 at 4:30 p.m. in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center.

Carter, whose book frames Israel as running an apartheid state of Palestinian oppression rivaling the hardships of blacks infamously endured in South Africa in the mid-20th century, will address the audience for 15 minutes before fielding questions for another 45 minutes. Questions will be pre-selected by the student and faculty committee. The talk, which will be closed to the outside public, will also be shown on Brandeis’ Web site.

Carter has endured a firestorm of criticism over his book in recent months, but the University is no stranger to ideologically unpopular guests. Critics have assailed the University’s decision to give playwright Tony Kushner an honorary degree at May’s commencement ceremony, as well as the University’s hiring of Khalil Shikaki, a Palestinian pollster accused of ties to a terrorist organization.

Carter’s appearance, the first by a former president to the University since Harry Truman gave the commencement speech on campus in 1957, did not come easily. It took two rounds of invitations, a student petition and loads of regional media attention.

The idea was born out of an informal letter from a professor. Prof. Harry Mairson (COSI), the chairman of the Faculty Senate, said he wrote the former president on Nov. 14 to ask if he would be interested in coming to Brandeis to talk about his book.

But Carter said in a phone interview Friday that he sought the advice of Stuart Eizenstat, a member of the University’s Board of Trustees who served under Carter during his presidency, because he did not want to answer Mairson’s letter directly.

What happened next remains somewhat unclear.

The Boston Globe reported on Jan. 11 that Eizenstat-who wouldn’t comment for the Justice-suggested to University President Jehuda Reinharz that Carter should have a debate with Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz, a vehement critic of the former president’s book. Reinharz liked the idea, but Carter told the Justice he did not want to debate Dershowitz, an outspoken defender of Israel.

While Reinharz denies that such a debate was ever a condition for Carter’s visit, the suggestion was upsetting enough for Carter that the idea of an official invitation from the University was clearly dead by mid-december, when a student began an online petition to bring Carter to Brandeis. Over 100 people have signed the petition, which its author, Kevin Montgomery ’07, submitted to Reinharz before Christmas.

Reinharz responded in an e-mail to Montgomery: “I do not think it would be fitting for me, on behalf of the university, to pursue this matter with him further.”

But Reinharz kept the door open for a faculty group to make its own invitation, a professor said, and soon Montgomery, faculty and other students were busy at work trying to bring the former president to Waltham.

Prof. Gordie Fellman (SOC), who coordinated the eventual invitation to Carter, said he and three other professors met with Reinharz during the winter vacation and discussed Carter’s potential visit. Following that meeting, the faculty group sent a letter inviting Carter to campus, and Fellman soon began discussing possible dates for Carter’s appearance with some members of his office.

“It just moved very, very quickly,” Fellman said in a phone interview Sunday. “I’m very gratified it moved that quickly.”

Despite the almost two-month-long fiasco and a pledge by Dershowitz to show himself at the event, Carter was optimistic about the visit.

“I don’t really have any concerns,” he said.

But Dershowitz, who called Carter a “hypocrite” in a Boston Globe op-ed article, has been Carter’s most vocal critic, and some students are trying to provide him an avenue to counter Carter’s ideas.

In a phone interview with The Justice Friday, Carter said he would not oppose Dershowitz’s presence or any questions he might have.

“I have no objection to his appearance,” Carter said. “I will answer his questions and treat [them] with respect.”

In the phone interview, Carter highlighted his experience in peacemaking during his presidency, citing a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt he helped broker in 1979. He emphasized the need for more dialogue on the Middle East in the United States.

“[We need to] find some avenue that might lead to peace for Israel and the Palestinians,” he said.

He also acknowledged the controversy surrounding his book, and said he just wants to present his views on the matter.

“I’m not going to try and convince everybody that I’m right,” he said.