Steve Bragaw delivered the good news to his boss, Sweet Briar College President Elisabeth Muhlenfeld, by e-mail.

“I thought you might be tickled ‘pink and green’ to find that the legislation Barbara [Perry] and I co-drafted for Delegate Tata went through the legislature,” wrote the associate professor of government at SBC, sliding in a reference to the school colors.

Steve BragawDel. Bob Tata, R-Virginia Beach, introduced HR 627, a joint resolution that designates the third week of September as “Civic Education Week” in Virginia. State Sen. Roscoe Reynolds, D-Martinsville, co-sponsored the resolution as SJ 434.

Its passage through the General Assembly makes Virginia’s one of the first state legislatures to enact civic education-related legislation this year. It is part of a nationwide push to promote civics in schools that began in earnest in 2003 with the first meeting of the Congressional Conference on Civic Education.

Tata chairs the Virginia Commission on Civic Education and, along with Bragaw and SBC professor of government Barbara Perry, is a member of the Virginia delegation to the Congressional Conference.

Barbara PerryPerry is the founder and executive director of SBC’s Center for Civic Renewal. Bragaw directs the center and its Law and Society program. In 2005 they were instrumental in drafting and seeing through House Bill 1769. Also known as the Dillard Bill, HB 1769 created the Virginia Commission on Civic Education. Then-Gov. Mark Warner signed the bill into law in September of that year.

Warner also appointed Perry and Bragaw to serve on the commission, which is designed to strengthen government and civics-related education among Virginia schools.

Tata championed HR 627 over concerns about Americans’ declining civic involvement, which he defines more broadly than participating in the political process. He also includes membership in civic groups that serve a public good, such as the Rotary Club, Kiwanis and parent-teacher organizations.

Fewer people belong to such groups than did a couple of decades ago, he said.

“Right now there’s more civic disengagement than engagement. [I want to] create some sort an awareness that we need to emphasize civic education and civic engagement.”

Virginia’s “Civic Education Week” will coincide with the annual Constitution Day observance, which is a federal mandate. It requires that institutions receiving federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education implement an educational program pertaining to the U.S. Constitution on a date designated by statute.

Sweet Briar will invite area schools to attend its Constitution Day programs on Sept. 17.

As for President Muhlenfeld, she was pleased that Bragaw and Perry’s efforts were successful. “In many ways, everything a college or university does should help students be informed and engaged citizens,” she said.