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.
Obama Can and Must Act Now On Chemical Plant Safety
What connects all of these terrible events – the 1984 pesticide plant disaster at Bhopal, India, which caused 20,000 deaths; the Sept. 11, 2001, Al Qaeda attacks on the U.S.; and the recent deadly chemical plant explosions in West, Texas, and Geismar, Louisiana? What connects these events is the looming danger of a massive terrorist
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Who Owns The Awful Corinthian Colleges? Wells Fargo, Marc Morial, Pension Funds
Last Thursday, California’s attorney general, Kamala Harris, sued Corinthian Colleges, one of the country’s biggest — and worst — for-profit college companies, for “false and predatory advertising, intentional misrepresentations to students, securities fraud and unlawful use of military seals in advertisements.” Harris’s lawsuit claims that Corinthian, which operates the schools Heald, Everest, and Wyotech, deceived prospective students, investors, and
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More Trouble for For-Profit Colleges: They Can’t Keep Calling Your Cell
The for-profit college industry is under pressure. Many of its biggest companies are being investigated by federal agencies and state attorneys general for fraud and misrepresentation — deceiving students, regulators, and investors about job placement rates, costs and quality of programs, transferability of credits, and other matters. Enrollments are down, and share prices have been
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Discredited For-Profit College Operator Still Part of APSCU Trade Group
The Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, or APSCU, is the Washington, DC-based lobbying group for America’s for-profit colleges. APSCU has opposed a wide range of reasonable efforts by the Obama Administration and Members of Congress to hold bad actors in its industry accountable for waste, fraud, and abuse with the roughly $32 billion
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Arne Duncan’s Last Best Chance to Save Students from Abusive For-Profit Colleges
After several years of startling revelations about its predatory abuses of students, the for-profit college industry faces growing skepticism from the public. Thousands of students across the country have complained that they were deceived by for-profit college recruiters about the cost of programs, the quality of programs, and the value of for-profit degrees in the
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Gallery II: Fun Fueled By For-Profit College Fraud
Earlier today I posted a piece with images of Arthur E. Benjamin of Delray Beach, FL, and Dallas, TX, posing and socializing, mostly at charity events, with the likes of George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Flo Rida, J.R. Ewing, some socialites, and a dog that Mr. Benjamin seems to like very much. I expressed concern that
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Gallery: Fun Fueled By For-Profit College Fraud
The images above depict a life of glitzy charity events and socializing with the rich and famous. It’s the life of Arthur E. Benjamin of Delray Beach, FL, and Dallas, TX. According to his website, Arthur Benjamin is an “Internationally Recognized Educator, Corporate Leader, Philanthropist and Animal Rights Activist.” He “has been dedicating himself to
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A Nation of Trump Universities: The Abuses of For-Profit Colleges
Because the media loves discussing Donald Trump, it wasn’t surprising to see heavy press coverage of a lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman accusing the unlicensed Trump University of “persistent fraudulent, illegal and deceptive conduct.” Trump responded by harshly attacking Schneiderman, whose suit demands that Trump pay back at least $40 million
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