About: David Halperin
Twitter: @DaHalperin
Bio: David Halperin, a self-employed lawyer based in Washington DC, engages in public advocacy work on a wide range of issues, including higher education and climate change. He also advises organizations and companies on strategy, policy, communications, and legal matters, and he is of counsel to Public.Resource.org.
Halperin was previously: founding director of Campus Progress and senior vice president at the Center for American Progress; senior policy advisor for Howard Dean's 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/RealNetworks; counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee; and law clerk to U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell.
He has represented clients in the U.S. Supreme Court and various state and federal courts.
He 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 the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Transportation, and spoken at major events held by the National Consumer Law Center, Consumer Federation of America, Arizona State University, American Educational Research Association, and Center for American Progress.
Halperin has served for more than a decade on the board of directors of Public Citizen.
He graduated from Yale College and Yale Law School.
Accreditor SACS Must Explain Its Tolerance of Abuses At Keiser Universities
In a separate post today, I discuss how the Department of Education is at a crossroads in its oversight of accrediting agencies, the private bodies that serve as reviewers of college quality and integrity and gatekeepers for eligibility for federal student grants and loans. Below, in response to a request for public comment related to the
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Education Department Hearing Exposes Divisions on Higher Ed Abuses
1. Collegial higher ed and its consequences When I first got involved with higher education issues, about ten years ago, I observed a remarkable division: Congressional investigations and numerous media reports were highlighting blatant deceptions and abuses of students by numerous for-profit colleges. Yet in the rooms where higher education officials gathered — at Department
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Education Dynamics Falsely Peddles For-Profit Colleges As Non-Profit
You can learn a lot just by googling. Yesterday, I searched Google for “nonprofit colleges,” and the top response was the ad shown above, promising “Flexible Degree Programs Offered by Non For Profit Online Colleges.” I clicked on the link, and it sent me to this site called “findcolleges” or “findtopcolleges.” As indicated in the
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Independence U. Lays Off Staff, Says Feds Stopped Aid
The Center for Excellence in Higher Education, operator of Independence University, has informed its staff that “most” employees will be laid off in the next few months. By messages sent on July 20, CEHE’s interim CEO Paul Gardner told staff that the U.S. Department of Education has placed the school on Heightened Cash Monitoring 2,
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Get the COVID Vaccine Already
Are you tired of suffering, death and hard times in your community from COVID? I’ve had enough of my own family members and friends getting sick from this disease. Get the vaccine. It’s free, easy, and proven safe — way safer than COVID. Save lives. Save our country. Get the vaccine.
The Department of Education Is Still Concealing the Public’s Business
The Biden Department of Education has taken some strong steps to erase the ugly higher education agenda of Betsy Devos, who repeatedly sided with predatory for-profit colleges over struggling students and borrowers. But in one area especially, the Department so far is sticking to its old, troubling ways: It’s keeping hidden important records concerning its
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The Wisdom of Scam College Operator Carl Barney
Carl Barney says defrauded students want “free stuff,” when he’s the one who defrauded them and made billions through a tax-exempt non-profit funded almost entirely with taxpayer money. Below is some wisdom, on his blog, from Carl Barney, the ultra-wealthy operator of a chain of tax-exempt “non-profit” colleges that: — a Colorado judge hit
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California Lobbyist’s Dual Roles on Veteran’s Education Bill Raise Questions
A California lobbyist, at a state legislative hearing last week, identified himself as speaking on behalf of multiple California-based veterans organizations as he urged passage of a resolution that would benefit a group of 23 law schools in the state. The lobbyist, Seth Reeb, did not mention in his oral remarks that he also had
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