POLARIZATION OF THE 3$^3$D$\rightarrow $2$^3$P LINE OF HELIUM EXCITED BY ELECTRON IMPACT D. Cvejanovic, K. Clague, A. Crowe, K Bartschat$^\dagger $, I.Bray$^\ddagger $ and D. Fursa$^\ddagger $ Department of Physics, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, U.K. $^\dagger $Department of Physics and Astronomy, Drake University, Des Moines, IA 50311, USA $^\ddagger $ Electronic Structure of Materials Centre, The Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, Australia Experimental and theoretical investigations of electron impact excitation of the 3$^3$D state of helium are reported over a wide energy range. Polarization fractions for the 3$^3$D$\rightarrow $2$^3$P line have been measured and calculated using both CCC and RMPS theories.