Dixie State University in Utah Reportedly Considering Name Change
“A final decision likely wouldn’t come until legislators meet in January”
This school has come under pressure regarding its name before, but given the current climate, they will be much more likely to follow through on this.
The Associated Press reports, via St. George News:
Dixie State University to consider dropping ‘Dixie’ from its name
After years of resisting calls to change, Dixie State University is considering dropping “Dixie” from its name in another example of the nation’s reexamination of the Confederacy and slavery.
The university has faced scrutiny in the past over its name, but it resisted changing. Settlers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, many of them from the South, moved to the St. George area in the 1800s. The university’s decision to revisit the issue comes amid a national outcry against racial injustice and police brutality following the death of George Floyd.
The local chapter of the NAACP has been among those urging a name change.
Some institutions have recently distanced themselves from the term and companies have moved to drop labeling viewed as racist, including brands from Eskimo Pie to Aunt Jemima. Country music’s The Dixie Chicks changed its name to The Chicks and the owner of Dixie Brewing Company in New Orleans said its brewery and products will be renamed.
Dixie State, with an enrollment of about 11,000 students, transitioned from a college to a university in 2013 and is the largest university in Southern Utah.
University leaders, along with the Utah System of Higher Education, are in the early stages of discussing a potential name change, but the Republican-controlled state Legislature would have the final say. A final decision likely wouldn’t come until legislators meet in January, said system spokesperson Trisha Dugovic.
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Comments
“Dixie” is an affectionate term for the South. It does not correspond to the Confederacy, to slavery, or to segregation.
Is the South supposed to cease to exist in the new “woke” politics? Are the southern states supposed to change their names to negate any of their history from before they became “woke?”
I guess we need to remove the term Dixiecrats from the history books
I better stock up on Dixie Cups before they turn into something else.
There was a move afoot in Alabama years ago to remove the red heart with the words “Heart of Dixie” in white inside it. The response was akin to “H*** no.” I’m waiting for it to come up again. If it does and the state caves on this, I have no doubt somebody will come up with a decal to put on the tags.
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Please excuse me for an incomplete statement. The red heart and the words are on the car license plates, and have been for a very long time, probably at least a century.
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Dixie in Utah? Isn’t that cultural appropriation?