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.
Accreditor SACS Must End Abuses at Keiser University
On Friday I submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, as part of their ongoing process of evaluating college accrediting organizations, a comment on the accreditor Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges (SACS). The Department reviews the performance of accreditors in order to decide whether they are effective gatekeepers for the taxpayer-funded
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Education Department Terminates Aid to Union Institute & University
The U.S. Department of Education has terminated federal student aid to Cincinnati, Ohio-based Union Institute & University and fined the school $4.3 million, charging in a 14-page “emergency action” letter sent on November 7 that the non-profit school “misused Title IV funds to the detriment of its students, the department and taxpayers.” The Department alleges
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Todd Nelson Reinstalled As Perdoceo CEO
The for-profit college company Perdoceo today named Todd Nelson as president and CEO, replacing Andrew Hurst, who resigned after less than two years in the job. Nelson had been the company’s executive chairman, and before that was Perdoceo’s CEO and president from 2015 to 2022. The market analysis firm PAA Research responded with this
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Brian Mueller, The Most Entitled Man in Higher Education
For weeks, both before and after the U.S. Department of Education imposed a $37 million fine on Grand Canyon University for its systematic deception of students regarding the costs of their educations, the school’s president, Brian Mueller, has engaged in a public relations blitz aimed at attacking the federal officials who investigated and penalized his
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Accreditor Backs U of Phoenix-Idaho Purchase, As Evidence Grows That Similar Arizona Deal Is a Mess
Chicago-based accrediting agency Higher Learning Commission (HLC), which oversees giant for-profit University of Phoenix, has signed off on the controversial deal, announced in May, for Phoenix to be sold by its owners, led by private equity behemoth Apollo Global Management, to a new non-profit entity tied to the University of Idaho. At its November meeting,
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Shuttered For-Profit ASA College Aims for Comeback
New York City’s ASA College, a for-profit school that lost its accreditation and closed its doors to students in February — following scandals involving deceptive subway ads and sexual misconduct allegations against its owner — seems to be trying for a comeback. ASA College’s board chair, Frank Seddio, sent a letter dated November 1 to
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Education Department Fines Grand Canyon U $37 Million for Deceiving Students
The U.S. Department of Education today announced it has levied a $37.7 million fine on Grand Canyon University for alleged deceptions of students in the school’s doctoral programs. The fine amount, unusually large for the Department, was pegged to the gravity and scope of the abuses, as well as the size of the institution and
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FTC, New Jersey Charge For-Profit College With Deceptions, Order Student Debts Cancelled
The Federal Trade Commission and the state of New Jersey have reached parallel settlements with for-profit Sollers College, under which the school has been ordered to cancel $3.4 million in student debt for about 400 students. Sollers, which has a single campus in New Jersey plus courses online, also must pay a $1.2 million civil
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