Consulting & Auditing
Coaching & Training
Curriculum
Civic Engagement
AI Ethics
Free Speech vs. Hate Speech
Disinformation & Political Division
Privacy & Digital Dignity
BIPARTISAN I MULTIFAITH I EXPERT LED
CITIZEN POWERED I STUDENT RUN
Higher Education’s Free Speech vs. DEI
Fights Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg
Colleges are simply the first and most visible casualties of
partisan zealots on both sides.
Higher education’s insistence on clinging to outdated
pre-digital curriculum is promoting unconstitutional and
reactionary policies that are hurting students, silencing faculty,
and jeopardizing everyone’s post-digital civic and civil rights.
The education industrial complex has no idea how to fix it.
IT ACTUALLY GETS WORSE: The campus free speech vs. hate speech crisis is now
legally and politically entangled in an ecosystem of technological
threats to our civil rights, constitutional norms, and democratic institutions.
PRIVACY
DISINFORMATION
AI ETHICS
Your solution to any one of these problems -- in terms of policy, law, curricula, or litigation -- impacts the others.
And AI -- by studying us -- is now training itself to regulate speech in the least constitutional ways possible.
We are now at the crisis moment for
higher education, free speech, & AI ethics.
2024 is the make or break year to fix this mess
- You have to solve the three crises at the same time.
- Your solutions have to be bi-partisan, multi-faith, & Constitutional.
- Your solutions have to be usable across all industries & academic disciplines.
- Your solutions have to be understandable to all communities.
It would take 20 years --
and leading experts across dozens
of professions and academic niches --
to untangle and solve this.
Plus thousands of volunteer hours
to develop, pilot, and execute
proven solutions that were accepted
by both liberals & conservatives.
And you’d probably want to test drive
it with a major state university, a Bible
college, & the wokest school in America.
So, lucky for you,
we already did.
IDH Solutions for Attorneys, Administrators, & Policymakers
consulting
training
auditinG
compliance
Higher education is one of the most complex industries in America.
And post-digital First Amendment law and norms are in flux.
We can teach your entire faculty and/or legal team how to stay
ahead of the curve and out of the courtroom.
Plus re-empower your students to make their own informed
decisions about academic freedom and campus free speech.
And we can position your brand to be a global leader
in the fight for a just, free, and sane post-digital world.
Why do the idh’s solutions work?
1
2
It’s simple.
20 years of proven fixes, partnerships, and strategies that all anticipated this collision between technology and constitutional rights with college at the center.
We have the bi-partisan and multi-faith free speech and
higher education underdog story that can sell these
solutions to a dangerously divided and terrified America.
#1: A holistic, non-partisan, and award-winning legal and policy framework for the whole post-digital First Amendment mess.
Algorithmic Bias & Censorship I Disinformation I Privacy I hate speech vs. free speech
A 2,000 year old method already in the DNA of legal education, the heart of First Amendment jurisprudence, and taught to millions. Now updated for the digital age.
Simple enough for students
Smart enough for the Supreme Court
teachable to everyone.
#2: A free speech & higher education origin story that makes all Americans sleep better.
A respected AI ethics and First Amendment prof gets tired of preaching to the choir and leaves liberal higher ed, crosses the digital filter bubble, and and becomes a ‘diversity hire’
at a Bible college.
He promises to use free speech to bring the left and right -- and Christian, Muslim, and Jewish-Americans -- back together to fight for a just, free, and sane post-digital world. They promise to do something about their team and racial justice.
They host the Floyd memorial. He and his new students -- and a childhood friend from across the aisle - start the IDH,
which is now incorporated as a 3rd party non-profit.
IDH co-founders
Dr. Aaron McKain |
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
- 20+ years in higher education entrepreneurship
focused on free speech digital ethics
- former speechwriter for Ohio State President during billion dollar fundraising campaign
- Co-founder and creative director, The Institute for Aesthetic Advocacy, the Twin Cities’ premiere first amendment fueled art collective
- Co-founder, Commonplace (McGraw-Hill) networking thousands of students to fight disinformation
Thomas Freeman |
Research Director
CONSULTING
legal & policy solutions, communication strategies, encodable frameworks
We speak higher education, First Amendment law, & digital ethics fluently.
Proven and trusted bi-partisan, multi-faith, and interdisciplinary solutions for schools, attorneys, companies, programmers, and policymakers.
Whether you are trying to fix post-digital free speech and higher ed from the
outside-in or the inside-out, the stakes are too high for this to be your first rodeo.
CAMPUS AUDITS
curriculum, policy, & pedagogy assessments on free speech & ai
A trusted cross-cultural and bipartisan "brand" to certify your school’s principles, processes, and pedagogy in these contentious political times.
Two decades of building and evaluating experiential, interdisciplinary, inter-professional
curriculum with diverse students and partners.
Higher ed experience from the adjunct basement to the President’s office.
And -- after we look under the hood -- we have simple proven solutions to get you
where you want to be or make your faculty ai-proof.
TRAININGS & WORKSHOPS
For attorneys, policymakers, advocates, Artists, & programmers
Same services as the consulting and audits but not one on one. We teach everyone and anyone.
Thank you to our clients, allies, & partners:
Nebraska, Iowa, and American Bar Associations, Minnesota Legal Rights Center,
MN Human Rights Center, Minnesota Justice Research Center, Little Earth Native Community, Tulaine Valley Creates, Indiana University OSTROM Workshop, Creighton University, North Central University, University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse
and advocates and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle.
We have a small window
of time to fix free speech & higher ed.
But we have to move fast in order to
re-imagine civic education in the post-AI world
re-empower and re-recruit students
re-establish a bond of trust between citizens & academia
And then we can re-build our reality, political sanity, & common humanity before it is too late.
Thank you to our parTners
ACLU MINNESOTA
ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE
LITTLE EARTH NATIVE HUD COMMUNITY
CODED BIAS (NETFLIX)
BYTES MEDIA
TAKE ACTION MINNESOTA
MN LEGAL RIGHTS CENTER
CIVIC NEBRASKA
MN EQUAL JUSTICE RESEARCH CENTER
MN DEPT. OF HEALTH
SAFETY NOT SURVEILLANCE
GUNS DOWN, LOVE UP
PROTECT MN
SECOND CHANCE COALITION
URBAN EDUCATORS
RECLAIM THE BLOCK
ACLU NEBRASKA
The Institute for Digital Humanity is a bipartisan,
multi-faith, free speech and digital ethics
think-tank located in Minneapolis.
In less than 5 years, the IDH has become a recognized thought leader among tech startups, educators, advocacy groups, and governments
by building unprecedented educational and civic
coalitions across the digital divide.
Our unique approach to free speech and digital
ethics focuses on partnerships with diverse ideologies and empowering students.
Services & Solutions Inquiries:
info@theidh.org
Media Inquiries:
amckain@theidh.org
