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.
Who Owns the Colleges The Obama Administration Just Shut Down?
Last week the U.S. Department of Education took the rare step of cutting off federal student aid to two for-profit college chains, each accused of deceiving the Department and their own students. The allegations against the schools, while similar to abuses exposed at other schools in the past, are startling. But what’s also interesting is
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Education Dept. Sent Corinthian Students to Westwood. Now Westwood Is Closing …
Last spring, when for-profit Corinthian Colleges abruptly shut down under the weight of allegations of deceptive acts, Corinthian students had a choice under U.S. Department of Education rules: transfer to another school, or receive a “closed school discharge,” which would free them from the obligation of repaying the student loans they had incurred at the
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University of Phoenix: New Boss, Same as Old?
Today, the University of Phoenix’s owner, Apollo Education Group, announced a $1.1 billion deal to be acquired by a consortium of investors including Apollo Global Management (no relation) and the Vistria Group, a private equity firm that includes Tony Miller, who was Deputy Secretary of Education under President Obama from 2009-2013. Miller would become Chairman of the Apollo
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Credit Suisse Analyst Who Touts DeVry Previously Touted Corinthian
Credit Suisse got the attention of Wall Street last week when it issued a report recommending that investors buy shares in one of the largest for-profit college companies, DeVry Education Group. The report came less than a week after the Federal Trade Commission sued DeVry for allegedly misleading students about job placement rates and salaries for the school’s graduates,
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ITT Tech, Settling Shareholder Suits, Pledges Reforms
Last week, troubled for-profit college company ITT Tech settled a series of lawsuits brought by shareholders that charged ITT with various securities law violations. Under the agreement, approved preliminarily by Manhattan federal judge J. Paul Oetken on Jan. 29 but still subject to objections by investors, ITT will pay lawyers for the plaintiffs $1.1 million and commit
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Dear God Do Not Leave America Alone with Ted Cruz
Apparently 27.6 percent of Iowa Republican caucus goers — 51,666 people — think Senator Ted Cruz of Texas should be President of the United States. That made him the biggest winner coming out of Iowa, heading into the crucial New Hampshire primary. Heaven help us if Ted Cruz becomes President. I’m not referring to his
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Military-Branded Websites Push Veterans to Troubled For-Profit Colleges
In a well-publicized 2012 action, the attorneys general of 20 U.S. states stopped a company called QuinStreet from using a military-branded website, GIBill.com, to steer American veterans to controversial for-profit colleges. But it turns out that marketers, including QuinStreet itself, have continued to engage in similar practices since then. Websites such as Military.com and GIJobs.com still push
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Federal Trade Commission Sues For-Profit DeVry For Deceiving Students
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission today filed a lawsuit against one of the largest for-profit colleges, DeVry University, for allegedly misleading students about job placement rates and salaries for the school’s graduates. The FTC complaint, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, alleges, “Through the use of English and Spanish-language advertisements and other marketing materials,
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