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.
Santorum Seeks To Out-Compete Romney On Fealty To For-Profit College Industry
As Ricksanity intensifies, Mitt Romney’s upstart challenger, Rick Santorum, appears ready to compete on yet another plane. Call it the For-Profit College Primary, with no delegates but lots of campaign cash up for grabs. Romney certainly has staked his claim to be the For-Profit Education President. He has gushed on the campaign trail about for-profit
Continue Reading >>>
For-Profit College Chieftains in Tahoe: Skiing, Steams, and Signature Cocktails
The Huffington Post’s Chris Kirkham travelled to the “palatial Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe resort” for the “senior executive management seminar” of the for-profit college trade group APSCU. As Kirkham notes, the vast majority of for-profit college revenue (more than 90 percent for many schools) comes from federal financial aid, so we all paid for the for-profit execs
Continue Reading >>>
George W. Bush To Speak At Vegas Convention Of For-Profit College Industry Enriched By His Administration
Former President George W. Bush will speak at the annual meeting of APSCU, the leading association of for-profit colleges, on June 22 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Bush is an appropriate speaker, in a sense, because his Administration’s deliberate actions made it easier for bad actors among for-profit schools to
Continue Reading >>>
Corinthian Colleges, For-Profit School With Record Of Abusing Underserved Communities, Gives $1 Million to The Urban League
Corinthian Colleges CEO Jack Massimino and National Urban League CEO Marc Morial held a conference call this afternoon to announce an “Historic Educational Partnership.” Corinthian, a for-profit education company, plans to provide “approximately” $1 million for an Urban League program to help 200 students in Orlando, Florida, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to prepare for the GED exam so they
Continue Reading >>>
Romney’s ‘Policy Fundraiser’ Tomorrow Reveals Reliance On Ed Advisor Who Set Stage for For-Profit College Abuses
Mitt Romney, who has declared his admiration for for-profit colleges while receiving donations from for-profit education executives, boasts as a top education advisor a former George Bush official whose decisions in government helped unleash a decade of waste, fraud, and abuse by the for-profit college industry. Politico posted this invitation to a “POLICY ROUNDTABLE MEETING AND
Continue Reading >>>
Newt, Callista, and For-Profit Colleges
We know from a front-page New York Times story that Mitt Romney thinks the world of for-profit colleges, especially one school whose executives have contributed money to the Romney campaign and Super PAC. But a key for-profit college trade group, APSCU, probably just ensured it will also enjoy warm relations in the event of a
Continue Reading >>>
Bill Gates Praises CEO of Washington Post’s Kaplan Unit, Whose Profits Benefit Gates Foundation
The Washington Post Company seems on the verge of turning its flagship newspaper into a brochure for the company’s controversial, taxpayer-funded for-profit college division, Kaplan. The latest participant in this process is one of the world’s most accomplished men, Bill Gates. At a time when veterans groups, state attorneys general, and others are seeking reforms
Continue Reading >>>
Washington Post and DC Consultant Fail to Disclose For-Profit College Ties
For-profit colleges continue their effort to avoid accountability for high-cost, low-quality programs, programs paid for by U.S. taxpayers and struggling students. They have spent big money on lobbying, public relations, and campaign contributions – and have engaged in some highly questionable tactics. Now a Washington DC political consultant and the Washington Post have double-teamed
Continue Reading >>>