ST. GEORGE, Utah, June 14, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Dixie State University’s Name Recommendation Committee on Monday voted 11-3 in favor of renaming the university Utah Polytechnic State University.
The decision was shared in a Zoom meeting that was made available to remote viewers.
The newly recommended name will now move forward to the Dixie State University Board of Trustees for a vote. If the Board of Trustees approves the committee’s suggestion, the name will next be sent to the Utah Legislature for final approval.
If either the Board or the Legislature fails to approve the suggestion, the committee will work to come up with an alternative name.
The committee had been debating two names before the vote: Utah Polytechnic University and Utah Technological University.
The committee also discussed possible nicknames for the school, located in St. George. Suggestions included Utah Polytech, Utah Tech, UTech, Utah Poly and UPoly.
Name Recommendation Committee was formed in March after the Utah Legislature approved a bill to review a possible new school name. Concerns over the Dixie State University name grew out of the public perception that “Dixie” was too closely associated with the slave-holding era in America’s South.
Several recent DSU graduates came forward with stories of potential employers who questioned what they perceived as the racist name of the school, the students said.
Did anyone really even try to come up with a name? Very generic, undistinguished sounding. This name that of a “career college” than of a state university. Won’t stand out in any way, shape or form.