Being ranked #103 in the U.S. News publication doesn't make the UO elite, there's no debate about that. But if you're a "glass half full" person, I guess you could make the case that the UO is technically "above average" in the entire list of schools ranked by the U.S. News.

The fact that the UO shares #103 with U of Alabama, most well-known for its football program, U of Tennessee, known for its football and women's basketball programs, and Illinois Institute of Technology, known for... well, I don't know what it's known for, should be of rather alarming concern to the UO administration.

The UO has cited its ranking in the Princeton Review and its membership in the Association of American Universities as indications of its elite status, however, there are other more substantive and meaningful indications of a school's elite status, such as the number of Nobel Prizes and Laureates, Rhode Scholars, Pulitzer Prize winners, and Oscar and Emmy winners from your school.