Starving the Beast: The Battle to Disrupt and Reform America’s Public Universities

Starving the Beast: The Battle to Disrupt and Reform America’s Public Universities (2016) blends Documentary elements. Top cast includes James Carville. The plot follows a central conflict that grows in scope as the film progresses.

Actor: James Carville • Provider: Prime Video

This documentary examines the on-going power struggle on college campuses across the nation as political and market-oriented forces push to disrupt and reform America’s public universities. The film documents a philosophical shift that seeks to reframe public higher education as a ‘value proposition’ to be borne by the beneficiary of a college degree rather than as a ‘public good’ for society. Financial winners and losers emerge in a struggle poised to profoundly change public higher education. The film focuses on dramas playing out at the University of Wisconsin, University of Virginia, University of North Carolina, Louisiana State University, University of Texas and Texas A&M.