Restoring Respect

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Restoring Respect is community initiative promoting greater civility in San Diego civic dialogue. The initiative is supported by a consortium of San Diego area academic institutions and community groups including the Catfish Club of San Diego, the San Diego Community College District and the University of San Diego.

2nd Annual Conference On Restoring Civility to Civic Dialogue

Many thanks to the concerned San Diegans who took time out of their busy schedules to attend the 2nd Annual Community Conference on Restoring Civility to Civic Dialogue. You all helped make it a very successful event. Attendance at this year’s conference was double last years, despite the decidedly inclement weather. Check out conference videos and photos below. And JOIN our dialogue.

Videos

Photos

Dr. Constance Carroll (Chancellor, SDCCD) Moderator Carl Luna and Panelists (L-R) Jeff Light (editor UT San Diego) Martha Barnette (Co-Host, Public Radio's A Way With Words), State Senator Marty Block, Dr. Maria Senour & 10News Anchor Virginia Cha

USD President Dr. Mary Lyons and Keynote Speaker Eugene Robinson, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist, Washington Post


“We need to create a more civil dialogue that moves the country forward.”

"Words are powerful. They can be used to divide us, to unite us, to celebrate somebody, to demean somebody and we need to pay attention to that. Language is like clothing. If you are a little more elevated in your speech when you are talking about these kinds of [political] issues I think that has an effect not only on you but on the person that is listening to you."

Martha Barnette, Restoring Respect's 2nd Annual Conference February 20, 2013
   

"Civility is Patriotic"

Dr. Larry Hinmann, USD Professor of Philosophy and Restore Respect's 1st Annual Conference April 9, 2012

 

Initiatives

Principles of Civility Discussion: C2D is 3D2

Restoring Respect is working to establish basic principles of civility which can help guide and shape our community dialogue. We invite the participation of our entire community in this process. Below are Principles of Civility v1.0 developed by our committee and presented to the community for comment and refinement. Please click here to JOIN THE DIALOGUE.

Sign on to our Civility P.A.C.T.

If you support Restoring Respect’s initiative and agree with our Principles of Civility v1.0 please consider signing on to our Civility P.A.C.T. (Principles, Accountability, Community, Trust):

Civility P.A.C.T.

Add you name to the growing list of San Diegans committed to Restoring Respect and civility in civic dialogue.

Campaign 2012 “Civil and Shameful Awards” Announced

As part of Restoring Respect’s efforts to promote civility, we established the Campaign Civility Project. Our three judge panel monitored and rated selected campaign ads for the San Diego Mayoral Race, the 52nd District Congressional Race and several state propositions. In all 24 ads were evaluated using the Shepard’s Rules of Civil Campaigning.

Based on our evaluation rank-ordering, we are giving out our first biennial awards for The Hat’s off to the Most Civil Ad and the Shame On You Most Shameful ad of 2012.

This years Hat’s Off Award for the most civil ad of 2012 goes to the Nathan Fletcher For Mayor Campaign for its The King Family Endorsement ad aired during the spring Primary. The Ad received 34.5 out of 36 possible points from our judges giving it a grade of A.

This years Hat’s Off Runner Up Award goes to the Brian Bilbray Campaign for its ad Brian Bilbray Protects Jobs,

The ad received 30 out of 36 possible points from our judges giving it a grade of A.

This years Shame On You Award goes to the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee in support of Brian Bilbray for its Scott Peters Is Obscenely Rich ad. The ad received -24 out of 36 possible points from our judges giving it a grade of D, making it the Most Shameful ad of the year!

This years Shame On You Runner Up Award goes to the Carl DeMaio for Mayor Campaign for its Bob Filner Is Unfit To Serve In Office. The ad received -19 out of 36 possible points from our judges giving it a grade of D.

View the complete details of ad scoring and ranking.

Hats off to our winners and a wagging finger of shame to our losers with the admonition to keep it civil next time around.

Past Events

Restoring Respect’s Fall Breakfast

Many thanks to all who attended the fall breakfast.  Dr. Edward Luck, Dean of the USD Joan Kroc Institute for Peace Studies delivered salient opening remarks on the impact of civility and incivility from a global perspective.  Panelists Lani Lutar (San Diego County Taxpayer’s Association), BH Kim (Executive Director for The San Diego Foundation’s Malin Burnham Center for Civic Engagement) and California State Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher helped lead a spirited and informative group dialogue.  View pictures and a video of the event.

1st Annual Community Conference on Restoring Civility to Civic Dialogue a Success!

Many thanks to all of you concerned San Diegans who took time out of your busy schedules to attend the 1st Annual Community Conference on Restoring Civility to Civic Dialogue.  You all helped make it a very successful event.  We, the organizers, have received numerous positive remarks about the conference and were gratified by the large turnout of community leaders, elected officials and candidates concerned about rising incivility and interested in engaging in a community dialogue to reverse this trend. Read more about the 1st Annual Community Conference on Restoring Civility to Civic Dialogue.

In the Media

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  • RT @SDCivility: @BobFilnerMayor brilliant bringing in Mitt Romney for Olympic Bid. Bipartisan civic action! Now bring in Carlos Slim to s… …

    May 8, 2013

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Contact Information

civility@sandiego.edu

University of San Diego
5998 Alcalá Park
San Diego, CA 92110