It’s safe to say that University of Utah impact scholar Tim Shriver and his cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are on different ends of the political spectrum these days.
It would be so easy to dig deep into contempt when speaking about the disputed science and dramatic policy changes Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy is enacting at the department, Shriver acknowledged while speaking at the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics this month. Instead, Shriver said, in an appearance on CNN, he stuck to the facts.
Rather than attacking Kennedy, or targeting his motives or competence, Shriver said, “I tried to stick to programs, policies, outcomes, measures, not attack the person, because the attack on the person is actually a distraction from the problem.”
Avoiding the attack is also a measure of dignity in public discourse—a cause Shriver has dedicated himself to, through the Dignity Index, and laid a foundation for in Utah and at the U.
In town for the first Dignity Leadership Summit: Building a Dignity Culture, Shriver also joined a Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute Newsmakers Breakfast panel discussing “Dignity in Public Discourse” with Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson and Utah Board of Higher Education Chair Amanda Covington.
Henderson cited a tried-and-true saying from her mother: “If it feels good, don’t say it.”
“I’m as much a part of the problem as anybody,” she said. “We get so upset when we see the bad behavior, when we see the bad examples. But we can’t control what other people do; we can only control what we do.”
Both sides of the political spectrum engage in contemptuous language and behavior, Shriver says. He noted the role social media algorithms have in feeding each individual user a personally curated stream of vitriol and clickbait. It’s a “contempt industrial complex.”
“It’s a $2 trillion business,” he said. “This is to try to get inside of you and control how you think. Some of it’s entertaining. Some of it’s funny. But there’s another side to this.”
Shriver encouraged his audiences to test their own thinking and speech against the Dignity Index, an 8-point scale which measure language, from contempt to dignity. Launched in a 2022 Utah pilot, Hinckley Institute students with diverse viewpoints rated public messages for the state’s U.S. House and Senate races. This year’s summit in Salt Lake City is another step in laying the foundation for the index as a national effort, said Natalie Gochnour, Gardner Institute director. Three full-time university employees work in partnership with others on the Dignity Index team.
Covington said the state’s colleges and universities can revive a culture of free expression and respect for viewpoint diversity.
“We are creating places for human connection,” Covington said. “There’s no better place to get students engaging with each other, to look in each other’s eyes, to see each other and assuming good intent.”
Gochnour urged students at the Societal Impact Seminar at Hinckley to engage with elected leaders. “All of you can make a huge difference by virtue of your education and your engagement,” she said.
Shriver agreed. “There’s something here at this university, maybe it’s your president, the culture of the state, maybe the culture of the faculty and the students who are here that is I think inching towards being different,” he said. “And if I’m right, that’s going to be successful.”