•••quote:•••Originally posted by sandflea:
[QB]the 'big ten' is an athletic conference, just like the pac-10, the ivy league (technically), etc, etc. the other big ten schools besides northwestern (who is really at odds in this conference) are michigan, illinois, wisconsin, indiana, iowa, michigan state, penn state, ohio state, and minnesota.[QB]••••Actually, although the Big Ten is only outwardly seen as an athletic conference of Midwestern state schools, its organization is based on academics and research. This is how conference membership is/was largely decided. All the schools are major research institutions with strong undergraduate, graduate and professional academic programs (from <a href="http://www.bigten.org/about/index.html)." target="_blank">http://www.bigten.org/about/index.html).</a>
Northwestern shares these characteristics (and they can get it done on the field once in a while too!), so under this definition their membership makes sense. In fact, NU was one of the founding members of the conference, as was the University of Chicago who eventually dropped out. Indiana, Iowa, OSU, MSU, and PSU all joined later.
There's the full answer, not that anyone asked