The ‘Public Ivies’ are a list made by a guy named Richard Moll who wrote a book. They were, in his opinion, 8 public schools that were Ivy quality: Cal, U Florida, Vermont, UVA, Mich, Texas, UNC, Miami (Ohio). He also listed another 8 he thought were excellent: Colorado, Wisconsin, New College of FL, Georgia Tech, Penn State, Illinois, Washington (Seattle), Pitt, SUNY Binghamton.
It’s a guy who wanted to sell books, no different than the Colleges the Change Lives, except that the Public Ivies don’t market themselves on a road show together.