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.
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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ACCSC Puts Atlantis University On Warning, Citing Compliance Issues
The accrediting agency ACCSC has placed Miami for-profit Atlantis University on warning status, a decision that bars the school from starting new academic programs or opening new locations pending a further review that could place the school in even bigger trouble. The accreditor’s action came just weeks after Atlantis withdrew its application with ACCSC to
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Grand Canyon U Says Feds Are Targeting It “Unjustly”
Giant career college Grand Canyon University, which boasts a student enrollment of 118,000 and receives more taxpayer-funded federal student aid than any other for-profit college in the country, has issued a lengthy press release charging that government officials “are coordinating efforts to unjustly target” the school. GCU asserts that officials at the U.S. Department of
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Perdoceo Chairman In Legal Dispute Over Daughter-in-Law’s Death
The executive chairman of Perdoceo, one of the nation’s largest taxpayer-funded for-profit college operations, has been sued by the parents of his daughter-in-law, two years after she was found dead from what authorities ruled a suicide. On August 8, Traci Phillips and Troy Pehrson, the parents of Tiffani Nelson, filed a civil complaint in District
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Dozens of Top Ex-Trump Aides Have Condemned Him. Biden? None.
Dozens of senior officials who served under Donald Trump during his presidency have since sharply criticized Trump for his conduct while in office. I’m not aware of any senior official who has served in the presidential administration of Joe Biden who has condemned him. UPDATE: A few days after we posted our article, “Dozens of
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New Gainful Employment Rule Is the Least We Can Do For Our Students
The U.S. Department of Education today issued a final “gainful employment” rule, aimed at ensuring that students who attend for-profit and career colleges get lasting value for their time and hard-earned money, and U.S. taxpayers get a real return on their own investment in student aid. On a call with reporters late today announcing the
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