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.
Florida Career College Suggests Education Dept. Might Reverse Aid Cutoff
At a public hearing Thursday in Orlando, Florida, executives of troubled for-profit Florida Career College (FCC) suggested that U.S. Department of Education officials might be amenable to finding an alternative to their recent decision to cut off federal student grants and loans to the school. The Department announced on April 11 that it was terminating
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With ACICS Closing Soon, What’s Going On With Its Remaining Schools?
Last August, the U.S. Department of Education terminated the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) as a recognized accrediting agency, in the wake of powerful evidence that ACICS had allowed a number of schools under its watch to engage in deceptive and predatory practices without facing serious consequences. The Department’s action reprised a
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Rebuffed in Arkansas, University of Phoenix Now Plans to Sell Itself to University of Idaho
The University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees last month voted its disapproval of a plan by the institution’s president to acquire the troubled for-profit giant University of Phoenix, with several trustees expressing concerns, including about the structure of the deal, and one trustee declaring that Phoenix “has a terrible reputation.” Two weeks ago, six
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Collapsed Career College Chain CEHE Loses at Colorado Supreme Court
The demised career college operation Center for Excellence in Higher Education, which ran Independence University and other schools, lost on nearly every issue today in a decision issued by the Colorado Supreme Court. The state high court unanimously rebuffed CEHE’s demand for a new trial of a case brought by the Colorado attorney general. In
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Durbin, Warren Say U. of Phoenix Violates Deal With FTC Not to Deceive Students
Six U.S. senators, including Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), wrote today to the secretaries of education, defense, and veterans affairs urging them to examine the largest for-profit college, the University of Phoenix, and its participation in federal student aid programs. The senators cited a report on this website describing a University of Phoenix
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Data Shows U.S. Aid to Perdoceo Schools Hurts Students and Taxpayers
New data released by the U.S. Department of Education show that the two schools operated by for-profit Perdoceo Education Corp. — American Intercontinental University (AIU) and Colorado Technical University (CTU), both entirely online — continue to deliver poor results for students, with low graduation rates and graduate incomes and high levels of student debt. Coming
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Arkansas Trustees Reject University of Phoenix Purchase
This afternoon, at the end of a 40 minute Zoom meeting, the board of trustees of the University of Arkansas System voted 5-4 to reject a resolution that would have endorsed a plan by the System president, Donald Bobbitt, to have a non-profit organization associated with the school purchase the for-profit University of Phoenix. Bobbitt
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U of Arkansas-U of Phoenix Deal Is Built on a House of Cards
The University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees is meeting Monday to vote on a proposed deal under which a non-profit entity associated with the system would acquire the for-profit University of Phoenix. Skip Rutherford, the former Dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, said Sunday that this hotly-contested decision shouldn’t
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