This battle has been going on for over a year now. Every time this comes up, I am reminded that Yale is not changing its name, despite Elihu Yale’s involvement in the slave trade.
Deseret News reports:
Proposed Dixie State University name change evokes emotional debateAs student body president of Dixie State University, Penny Mills says she loves everything about the rapidly growing public institution.But she notices that when she visits her home in Utah County, she rarely sees students wearing apparel emblazoned with the university’s logos.“I can count on one hand the times that I’ve seen it out of St. George. … As a student body president, I want everyone to know the university that I go to. I want everyone to be proud of the university because of how proud I am of it. But that’s not the case. Students don’t do that. The alumni don’t wear the apparel. That is not good for a brand,” Mills said.Mills was part of a panel discussion on a proposed name change for the university hosted Thursday by Dixie State University’s Institute of Politics & Public Affairs.Both the university’s trustees and the Utah Board of Higher Education voted recently to support changing the university’s name. A name change would require a statutory change approved by the Utah Legislature.Beyond issues with the brand, some panelists addressed the name’s impacts on students, faculty and the university.Jordan Sharp, DSU’s vice president of marketing and communication, said the name is becoming an impediment to recruiting out-of-state students.“Forty percent of our recruiting area is outside of the state. Twenty percent in Utah are saying, ‘I’m probably not going to come there because of that name,’” Sharp said. “Every 1% that we don’t get or lose is about $350,000 to the institution.”
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