It was an audacious proposal. In the fall of 2023, sophomore Alex Herz emailed the entire faculty of Stony Brook University. The New York campus was in turmoil. Pro-Palestinian protesters and Jewish students were having angry confrontations. Professors were also fighting among themselves. In response, Mr. Herz recommended instituting a forum for civil discourse.

“Some professors reached out to me on the side and said, ‘I like what you’re trying to do. Let’s talk,’” recalls Mr. Herz, who is Jewish.

Over the past few years, our society has continued its trend toward increased political polarization, as the share of people swinging to the far left and right increases. In fact, a recent poll shows that nearly half of US voters believe those in the opposing political party are “downright evil.”

In this moment of intense polarization, Congress can help heal our nation by supporting the Civics Secures Democracy Act. Reintroduced this past month by a bipartisan group of senators led by Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) and John Cornyn (R-TX), this landmark bill finally addresses what’s been neglected for nearly half a century in our schools: civic education.

The misleadingly named “Civics Secures Democracy Act” (CSDA) — just now reintroduced in Congress — will allow the Biden administration to push Critical Race Theory (CRT) on every public school in the country. Over a six-year period, this $6 billion pot of competitive grant money will create a de facto national curriculum — just like Common Core. States desperate to tap into the federal gravy train will have to tailor their civics and history grant proposals to the Biden administration’s liking.

Civics education continues to be a polarizing issue in American culture. But according to Shawn Healy, Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy at the education nonprofit iCivics, “the bias in our education system is not ideological.” As Healy sees it, “the problem is that outside of a few pockets, civics education is not universally offered in a high-quality way.”

A bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate Tuesday would provide $1 billion to expand education programs and research in civics and history. The bill aims to help to close gaps among students across the nation in civics and history education.

In anticipation of Title IX’s upcoming anniversary, I sat down with Dr. Victoria Jackson, a sports historian and clinical assistant professor of history in the School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies at Arizona State University. Jackson is also a former Pac-12 and NCAA champion runner. She writes and speaks about the intersection of sport and society, exploring how the games we play (and watch) tell us much about the communities – local, national and global – in which we live.

GOP Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, like many Americans in the age of Facebook and Twitter, has discovered that posting something inflammatory on social media can have consequences in the real world.

On Wednesday, Democrats in the House of Representatives, joined by two Republicans, voted to censure Representative Gosar and strip him of his committee assignments for tweeting an altered cartoon video that depicted him killing Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and brandishing two swords at President Joe Biden.