Is there a way to require the Expiration date I can't find a way for a section (a channel in this case) to require the use to enter an expiration date.

I know I could add a new field and require that field, but that would get rid of the default functionality of entry/expire date fields.
You could do this with a little custom plugin. All you need to do is to listen to onBeforeSaveEntry events
and check if there's an expiryDate submitted.

craft()-&gt;on('entries.onBeforeSaveEntry', function(Event $event)
{
    $entry = $event-&gt;params['entry'];

    if($entry-&gt;section['handle'] == 'news' &amp;&amp; $entry-&gt;type['handle'] == 'news')
    {
        if ($entry-&gt;expiryDate === null)
        {
            $event-&gt;params['entry']-&gt;addError('expiryDate', Craft::t('Expiration Date cannot be blank.'));
            $event-&gt;performAction = false;
        }
    }
});