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.
New Trove of Federal Reviews of College Financial Aid Compliance
The U.S. Department of Education has this week posted online reports from its program reviews of colleges receiving federal student aid, including major schools like Georgetown University and the University of Arizona, as well as of controversial for-profit colleges. The purpose of these regular reviews, where Department officials randomly sample student files and other records and meet
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Law Enforcement Investigations and Actions Regarding For-Profit Colleges
Pending and past federal and state government investigations and actions regarding for-profit colleges Compiled by David Halperin, Attorney, Washington DC UPDATED 09-15-25 This is a list of pending and past significant federal and state civil and criminal law enforcement investigations of, and actions against, for-profit colleges. It also includes some major investigations
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Breaking: Justice Dept. Sues For-Profit Stevens-Henager College
Today the United States District Court in Idaho unsealed a complaint that has been joined by the U.S. Department of Justice under the federal False Claims Act against for-profit Stevens-Henager College and its affiliated schools CollegeAmerica and California College of San Diego. The case was filed as a whistleblower suit last year by two former recruiters
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Jeb Bush To Address Convention of Predatory For-Profit Colleges
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (R) will be the keynote speaker at the Las Vegas annual convention of the trade association of for-profit colleges, APSCU, according to the group’s website. Although some reputable, responsible colleges are members of APSCU, the organization is dominated by large companies, many of which — Corinthian, ITT, Education Management Corp.,
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More Probes, Oversight (and Dress Codes) for Predatory For-Profit Colleges
The for-profit college industry is lobbying furiously to prevent the Obama Administration from issuing a strong “gainful employment” rule that would cut off aid to career training programs that consistently leave students with insurmountable debt. But around the country this week there is more evidence that major players in this industry have been engaged in
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Head of Teachers College Group Sits on Board of Predatory Corinthian Colleges
Sharon P. Robinson, the president and chief executive officer of the non-profit American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) has served, since January 2011, on the board of directors of Corinthian Colleges, a publicly-traded corporation that runs the for-profit colleges Everest, Heald, and WyoTech. While Robinson’s organization advocates for strong professional teacher education, Corinthian has a
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Quiz: Which For-Profit College Are You?
Time to find out how badly you rip off students and taxpayers. Read the book here. PARODY. Not affiliated with anyone else’s Feed. This article also appears on Huffington Post.
Which For-Profit College Lobbyist Are You?
I’ve just published a new 100-page e-book, Stealing America’s Future: How For-Profit Colleges Scam Taxpayers and Ruin Students’ Lives. You can buy it for 99 cents on Amazon. I hope you’ll read it, because it is a critical moment for Americans to examine and speak out on the issue of for-profit colleges, the trade schools that bombard
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