In an announcement about a three-hour documentary movie concerning its history, the University of Oregon describes itself as a “world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon flagship public university.”

No question about the world-class education to be obtained there, but what about the “flagship”?

The flagship normally is the biggest vessel in the fleet, the one that carries the admiral in command of the whole shebang. Many years ago, the board of higher education moved the office of its chancellor from Eugene to Portland for several reasons, and one of them was to counteract the notion that the University of Oregon was in command of the state college system.

The biggest school in the state system is Portland State, with a 40,000 student headcount to roughly 24,000 each at the UO and Oregon State. So who’s the flagship now? (hh)