Extra Credit

Starving the Beast was about privatization and the cut of state aid for higher education. Many of the key players in this film had different points of view about privatization and its effect on colleges and college students. There are 7 solutions to lead to privatization and all of the solutions would mean seismic shifts in college funding. State policy networks are free market think tanks funded by public organizations around the globe. They believed that the most difficult solution to work with was to split the budget between teaching and research. There were various controversies and scandals that were discussed in the film. One of which included Wallace Hall, who gained illegal access to private documents of students which revealed that there was favoritism for students who were admitted to University of Texas that had close relations with politicians. Clearly, this proved that privatization helped those who were already in the top 1% and left the less privileged applicants at a disadvantage. The supporters of privatization felt no remorse at leaving the minorities and economically disadvantaged at the bottom of the totem pole if it meant keeping the elite at the top.