In Chile, higher education is characterised by a constellation of features that make 'public' a multiplicitous idea. In the present study, academics in two public universities are seen to hold strong views in favour of public universities playing public roles and they identify several public goods that they value. These academics also hold ambivalent perceptions of the relationships between the state and the market. On the one hand, the market and the state's role in it are accorded a "limited" legitimacy. On the other hand, it is felt that the state does not sufficiently enable its public universities to realise their potential. The paper proceeds to argue that in this ambivalence can be detected "four juxtapositions." It is suggested that these juxtapositions together open a space for a new settlement between the state and its public universities such that Chilean public universities might more fully realise their public possibilities.