I went to Northwestern, and I must say that "(a Big Ten university outside Chicago)" is not how I would describe it. It's the only private school in the Big Ten, and it's dwarfed in size by the others as well. To call it a Big Ten university is about as far off the mark as you can get while still being accurate.
The irony in the reporter's statement is that Bowdoin and Northwestern are probably more similar to each other than Northwestern is to any of the other Big Ten schools.
