About: David Halperin
Twitter: @DaHalperin
Bio: David Halperin is the co-founder and editor of Republic Report. Halperin, a self-employed lawyer based in Washington DC, engages in public advocacy, investigative work, and legal representation on a wide range of issues, including higher education, climate change, democracy, corruption, open government, and national security. He also advises organizations and companies on strategy, policy, communications, and legal matters. He is of counsel to Public.Resource.org, a non-profit focused on making legal and government materials available for free to the public.
Halperin’s investigative and advocacy work on predatory for-profit colleges since 2010 has spurred reforms in policy and regulations, triggered law enforcement investigations, and led to the closure of numerous deceptive schools.
Halperin was from 2004 until 2012 the founding director of Campus Progress and senior vice president at the Center for American Progress. Before that, he was: senior policy advisor for Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign; founding executive director of the American Constitution Society; White House speechwriter and special assistant for national security affairs to President Clinton; co-founder of the Internet company Progressive Networks (now called RealNetworks); counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee; law clerk to U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell (D.D.C.); research assistant to Robert S. McNamara; and research analyst at the Arms Control Association.
Halperin has represented clients in the U.S. Supreme Court and various state and federal courts. Among many other efforts, Halperin helped represent Greenpeace in an unprecedented 2004 Miami criminal jury trial over protest activity, resulting in a directed verdict of acquittal; aided climate groups facing investigation by the House Science Committee during 2015-16; and represented Public Resource in landmark copyright litigation from 2012 to 2024 over efforts to make federal regulations publicly available online without charge.
Halperin writes at Republic Report, and his articles also have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Nation, Politico, Slate, Foreign Policy, and other outlets. In recent years he has testified before the House Oversight Committee and at several federal agencies, and he has spoken at major conferences and events across the country. Halperin has served since 2007 on the board of directors of Public Citizen.
Halperin graduated from Yale College and Yale Law School.
Bill Maher, John Oliver Slam Predatory For-Profit Colleges
In a single week, two of America’s best comedic truth-tellers — John Oliver and Bill Maher — hit hard against the predatory for-profit colleges that rip off taxpayers and ruin students’ lives. On his HBO show “Last Week Tonight,” Oliver attacked these profit-making colleges for their sky-high prices, meager spending on instruction, and deceptive and coercive
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APSCU, Chamber Sought to Stack Rulemaking Panel With Execs From Troubled For-Profit Colleges
The main lobbying group for America’s for-profit colleges, APSCU, proposed last year to stock the Department of Education’s 28-member negotiated rule-making panel on the crucial “gainful employment” rule with 11 nominees, nine of whom were executives at APSCU-member for-profit college companies, including multiple companies now under investigation by law enforcement. Correspondence obtained from the education department by Republic
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Obama: We’ll Protect You Against Predatory Colleges. Students: Please Do
Speaking at the American Legion convention in Charlotte Tuesday, President Obama pledged, “For veterans going back to school under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, we’ll keep standing up against dishonest recruiting and predatory practices that target and prey on you and your families.” The President has made clear that he understands the scam perpetrated by many for-profit
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What college was Michael Brown about to attend?
Had Michael Brown not have been shot to death by a police officer, he might have had his financial future ruined by the college he was about to attend. It has been widely reported that Brown had enrolled at for-profit Vatterott College, although the school has declined to confirm that information. Vatterott, whose investors include Mitt
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Dept. of Education letter: Corinthian misled students and overseers about job placement
Republic Report has obtained a toughly-worded 17-page letter sent on Friday from the U.S. Department of Education to collapsing for-profit Corinthian Colleges, with the government charging that Corinthian’s Everest Institute misrepresented job placement statistics at its Decatur, Georgia, campus to the school’s accrediting agency and to students. The Corinthian school did so, according to the Department’s August 22 letter
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Post-Corinthian: Gates, Gingrich, Graham, Fake “Susan and Dave” Aren’t Done Opposing For-Profit College Rules
Are “Susan and Dave” a for-profit college student, or the parents of a for-profit college student? From the comments they posted on two different websites this week, seems like, both. Actually, it seems like a lie, perpetrated by a wealthy industry that will say or do anything to keep tapping billions in taxpayer dollars, even as it
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For-Profit College Group APSCU Has Consistently Harbored Fraudulent Schools
I mailed this letter today to Mr. Arthur E. Benjamin, Vice Chair, American Institutes Holdings LLC; Mr. Donald E. Graham, Chairman and CEO, Graham Holdings Company; and Mr. Steve Gunderson, President and CEO, Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities. Dear Mr. Benjamin, Mr. Graham, and Mr. Gunderson: I am writing regarding the career college sector
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U.S. Gas Exports Flow Through DC Lobbying’s Revolving Door
Even as President Obama pursues an aggressive new public effort to fight global warming by regulating U.S. power plants, his administration is quietly advancing an energy policy — exporting America’s liquid natural gas (LNG) — that may well raise the volume of climate-increasing greenhouse gases even more than emphasizing coal, while at the same time polluting U.S.
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