Not to be obnoxious, but isn't question falling prey to the "Old mother-in-law" either/or dilemma? I would say that yours is an entirely utopian question. In actuality, we have no choice but to preserve--or as you say, defend public forms of value. I know of no way to radically begin anew in the soil of neo-liberalism without building on pre-existing institutions. The interesting, material question would be to ask to what extent universities are or could be public forms of value--i.e. institutions that have the capability of furthering anti-capitalist/class-based resistance. Frankly, for me, being a member of a radical college community, I don't buy the argument in any way, shape, or form that uni's are only places where class divisions are reproduced, and bourgeois discipline is maintained. If that was your experience in university, I would propose that you did not organize hard enough.
In struggle,
Adam