Universities as Limited-Purpose Institutions

• In Event: Navigating Unjust Institutions: Visions of Educational Justice

Abstract

In a recent paper, David O’Brien argues persuasively for a surprising conclusion: that many progressive reforms to higher education, such as ending legacy admissions or switching from merit-based to need-based financial aid, cannot find support from political-liberal conceptions of justice. In this paper, I explore whether O’Brien’s position can survive the shift from ideal theory to non-ideal theory. In unjust societies like ours, we can expect political liberalism to place more demanding requirements on major social institutions like higher education. Do these requirements authorize the state to intervene directly on higher education, to further the goals of distributive justice? I answer this question in the negative, by showing that O’Brien’s position holds even in non-ideal conditions.

Author

• Afton Greco, University of Pennsylvania