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.
Report: U of Arizona Global Campus, aka Ashford, Continues Deceiving Students
A major investigative report from the Arizona Republic finds that the University of Arizona Global Campus, the online college that the state’s flagship university bought from a for-profit company, has continued to mislead students about the value and costs of their degrees. Students who spoke with the Republic described UAGC admissions staff engaging in aggressive
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Texas Judge Declines to Block Gainful Employment Rule, For Now
A Fort Worth-based federal judge on Thursday denied a motion by two for-profit cosmetology schools that sought to block implementation of the Biden Department of Education’s gainful employment rule, a regulation that would, over time, cut off federal aid to for-profit and career college programs that consistently leave graduates with debt they cannot afford to
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Troubled For-Profit Paier College Keeps Recruiting Students
Paier College, a for-profit arts, design, coding, and business school in Bridgeport, CT, continues to recruit students, even though it apparently now has no faculty, is on sharp warning status from its accreditor, has lost access to federal student aid, and has been sued for deceptive practices by the state’s attorney general. Recent students tell
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Donald Trump is a Criminal
Business fraud, real estate fraud, charity fraud, education fraud, tax fraud, election fraud, sedition, government corruption, classified document theft, obstruction of justice, sexual assault, conspiracy to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 election. And today, May 30, 2024, Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felony charges of falsifying business records to conceal facts from
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There Are 750 Doctoral Student Complaints To Education Dept. About Grand Canyon U.
Brian Mueller, the president of Grand Canyon University, which bills itself as a Christian school and is the largest recipient of federal aid of any institution of higher education, has engaged in an aggressive counterattack after (and even before) the U.S. Department of Education last October imposed a $37 million fine on the school f0r
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Clinging To Phoenix, U of Idaho President Spreads Cash, FOMO
University of Idaho president C. Scott Green is still trying to keep alive the dream of his school acquiring the troubled for-profit University of Phoenix, even though the proposed deal has been met with sharp disapproval from state legislators, the state’s attorney general and treasurer, and many others in Idaho. Idaho Education News reports this
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Justice Alito To Speak At Flag Day Celebration
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. will address the annual Flag Day celebration on June 14 in Benedict, New Jersey, city officials there announced today. The event, to be held at the city’s historic Darroll Hall, and I’m kidding.
Mike Pence to Speak at For-Profit College Convention. Why Exactly?
Former Vice President Mike Pence will be the keynote speaker at this summer’s annual convention of CECU, the national trade association of for-profit colleges. CECU (full name, Career Education Colleges and Universities) announced Pence’s appearance in a March 22 press release. The CECU convention will be held in June in Pence’s home state of Indiana,
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