Check out these recent articles from around the web:

Universities Are Failing at Inclusion by David Brooks: “Pluralists seek to replace the demonizing, demeaning and dividing ethos with one that encourages respect, relationships and cooperation. Pluralists believe that people’s identities are complex and shifting, that most human beings shouldn’t be divided into good/evil categories, that we become wise as we enter into many different points of view. Patel says that universities shouldn’t be battlefields but potluck dinners, where all guests bring their own cuisines to the common table.”

America is facing a spiritual crisis. More leisure time is the cure. by Chris Murphy and Tim Ryan: “We both love our jobs. But we know that the good stuff — the happiness that comes from moments connected to family and friends, the fulfillment that comes with honing a craft or skill, the positive feedback loop that comes from helping others — happens off the clock. People are sick of feeling like their own time no longer belongs to them. They want meaning and connection outside of work and the most basic freedom to enjoy life on their own terms.”

Stop Trying to Raise Successful Kids by Adam Grant and Allison Sweet Grant: “Kids learn what’s important to adults not by listening to what we say, but by noticing what gets our attention. And in many developed societies, parents now pay more attention to individual achievement and happiness than anything else. However much we praise kindness and caring, we’re not actually showing our kids that we value these traits. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised, then, that kindness appears to be in decline.”

Destigmatizing Drug Use Has Been a Profound Mistake by Keith Humphreys and Jonathan Caulkins: “Society is again learning via hard experience that drugs are dangerous. Efforts to destigmatize drug use may delay this learning, draw out the epidemic, invite new cohorts to try hard drugs, and create more addicted people. Instead, we as a society should have the wisdom to say unequivocally that in this new era of synthetic drugs, none of these drugs—nor any illegal substance, which may well contain them—should ever be used.”

Amid record chronic homelessness, advocates and experts say there is a solution by Katie Collins Scott: “As chronic homelessness escalates nationwide, advocates and researchers say a big part of the solution is the model that transformed Browning’s life. Known as permanent supportive housing, the approach incorporates rent-restricted housing with a range of voluntary support services.”

This Is Not the Way to Help Depressed Teenagers by Darby Saxbe: “The hard truth is that soaring rates of teenage depression and anxiety present a structural problem requiring structural solutions, including the training of a much larger work force of therapists. In school settings, creating more opportunities for young people to build relationships with adults through smaller class sizes and greater access to traditional guidance counselors might move the needle more than specialized mental health curriculums can. Other, more prosaic-seeming changes like starting school later to encourage sleep, decreasing the homework burden and creating more opportunities for play, exercise, music, arts and community engagement are all empirically supported strategies for improving mental health.”

Abolishing Poverty in America by Dominic Preziosi: “In his book Poverty, By America, sociologist Matthew Desmond argues that poverty exists because we “wish and will it to,” subsidizing affluence while purposely denying safety and security to millions of impoverished families. He recently spoke with Commonweal editor Dominic Preziosi about the persistence of poverty in this nation, the way that corporations undercut labor and the wealthy hoard resources, and the steps we can take to not only alleviate poverty but abolish it.”

Israel investigates an elusive, horrific enemy: Rape as a weapon of war by Shira Rubin: “Combatants from Gaza overran 22 Israeli communities, killed at least 1,200 and took 240 hostage in the surprise attack. But their greater goal, sexual trauma specialists say, was to introduce terror against women — and children and other unarmed civilians — as a means of spreading fear.”

Democracy faces two threats. Trump is only one of them. by E.J. Dionne Jr.: “We are paying far less attention to the long-term deterioration of the right to vote, the essential building block of a democratic republic. It’s easier to overlook because chipping away at access to the ballot has been a subtle, decade-long process.”

How to Be Anti-Semitic and Get Away With It by Yair Rosenberg: “Pro-Palestinian activism is not the same as anti-Semitism, which is why it’s important that when people say bigoted things about Jews or support violence against them, their words should not be conflated with Palestinian advocacy. But unfortunately, too many anti-Semites wrap themselves in the Palestinian cause, and too many partisans are happy to let them do so. This does not help any Palestinians, as it tends to tar their cause with prejudice, but it does insulate a fair number of anti-Semites from the consequences of their words or actions.”

3 university presidents’ failure is an opportunity for Catholic higher ed by MSW: “No one knows whether last week’s congressional testimony will serve as a kind of tipping point. But those engaged in Catholic higher education should see the highly conspicuous meltdown as a huge opportunity. Our Catholic colleges should not shy away from teaching the Catholic intellectual tradition, a tradition that provides students — and even administrators — with the moral analytical tools needed to recognize calls for genocide as unacceptable. Our Catholic schools should lean into that tradition.”

Why diversity work on campus is essential for pluralism — and our democracy by Eboo Patel: “The United States is the world’s first attempt at a mass-level multiracial, multiethnic, interfaith democracy. For centuries, political philosophers believed that a country as diverse as ours was impossible. After all, we humans are wired to prefer people who look and pray like us and to be suspicious of those who are different. To borrow from the great writer James Baldwin, to “achieve our country,” we must advance effective diversity initiatives.”

Democrats in the South need to learn lessons from John Bel Edwards’ legacy by Kristen Day: “At the core of Edwards’ legacy is his commitment to comprehensive health care. Understanding that pro-life values extend beyond the abortion debate, he championed policies that supported women’s health and well-being. Edwards recognized that true pro-life advocacy necessitates a holistic approach, addressing the multifaceted needs of his constituents.”