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.
College Owner Keiser Falsely Says His Schools Have a Clean Record
Arthur Keiser, billionaire operator of three Florida-based career college chains, asserts in an article published this week, “There’s no evidence of misconduct” at his schools. That claim, by one of the most powerful figures in the for-profit college industry, is demonstrably false. In reality, there is extensive evidence of misconduct at schools owned or operated
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Highlights and Lowlights at the Education Department NACIQI Meeting
This week the U.S. Department of Education held its semi-annual meeting of NACIQI, the Department’s outside advisory committee of higher education experts charged with reviewing the performance of the private accrediting agencies that oversee quality at colleges and universities. Due to other commitments, I wasn’t able to observe the entire meeting, but here is some
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Education Department Should Penalize Accreditor HLC For Tolerating Predatory Colleges
Tomorrow I’m scheduled to present brief comments (3 minutes max allowed) at a meeting of NACIQI, the U.S. Department of Education’s advisory committee charged with reviewing the performance of the private accrediting agencies that oversee quality at colleges and universities. Here’s what I plan to say: Many students say a school’s status as accredited, and
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Department of Education Hits Accreditor On Ashford/UAGC Oversight
In recent years, when given an opportunity to provide brief comments at meetings of the U.S. Department of Education’s outside advisory committee overseeing college accreditors, NACIQI, I have repeatedly argued that the Department, as part of evaluating accreditors, should be taking notice of any schools under a given accreditor that have been exposed for engaging
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For-Profit College Owners Charged for Selling Fake Nursing Diplomas
Federal prosecutors in Miami announced Wednesday that they had charged 25 people — including the owners of South Florida for-profit colleges — with selling fraudulent nursing degree diplomas and transcripts to people seeking licenses and jobs as nurses. Collectively, the defendants charged in federal documents facilitated the distribution of more than 7,600 fake nursing diplomas
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University of Arkansas in Talks To Buy Troubled For-Profit University of Phoenix
The Arkansas Times revealed Tuesday that a non-profit organization affiliated with the University of Arkansas System has been in talks about acquiring the University of Phoenix, long one of the country’s largest for-profit colleges, from that school’s current private equity owners. A spokesman for the University of Arkansas System acknowledged to the news outlet that
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University of Phoenix Seems to Break Pledge to Avoid Misleading Ads
The University of Phoenix has been running a national advertising campaign that suggests to prospective students that the school is a public, state-operated institution, when in fact is a private, for-profit operation. The ads, therefore, seem to violate a 2019 settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission in which the school’s owners agreed that their
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More Predatory For-Profit Colleges Collapsing, More Students in Peril
In recent weeks we’ve seen more predatory for-profit colleges falling apart. Once again it will be a challenge for the U.S. Department of Education, state authorities, and others concerned about students to help the current students at these schools find new colleges or get some of their money back. — San Antonio-based Quest College abruptly
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