re: Farewell Dixie State... Hello Utah Tech

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Utah's Dixie is the nickname for the moderately populated, lower-elevation area of south-central Washington County in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Utah. Its climate is very mild when compared to the rest of Utah, and typical of the Mojave Desert, in which it lies.

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Andrew Larson's landmark history of the area states that in 1857, the area was already taking on the "Dixie" nickname:

Already the settled area of the Virgin Valley was being called Utah's "Dixie." The fact that cotton would grow there, as well as tobacco and other semi-tropical plants such as the South produced made it easy for the name to stick. The fact that the settlers at Washington were bona fide Southerners who were steeped in the lore of cotton culture—many of them, at least—clinched the title. Dixie it became, and Dixie it remained. ... The name "Dixie" is one of those distinctive things about this part of Utah ... It is a proud title.

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I have read this a few times and I will be damned if I can find the racist part of it.

My bad. Thought you were being serious there for a minute.

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I’m pretty sure that the mere existence of cotton is racist.

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Then I have a dresser full of t-shirts that is about to frick my life up if the wrong people find out about them.

https://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2021/01/21/mrw-dixie-state-city-of-st-george-apply-to-include-local-landmarks-on-national-register-of-historic-places

the school applied to the State legislature for name change and then bent over backwards in double-speak to explain to St George residents how much the school "values the meaning of the word Dixie".

if they truly valued the meaning of Dixie - a name change is not necessary.

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in this 2018 file photo, Dixie State University’s iconic hillside “D” displays a red, white and blue mixture of colors as part of the capabilities of its new lighting system, St. George, Utah, December 2018 | Photo courtesy of Dixie State University, St. George News

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St. George, UT is a nice little town.

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Its 205,000 population and the fastest growing city in Utah. I have a condo there for golf and the National Parks. It rents out like a beach spot does.

Changing the Dixie State name is cowardly and dissapointing, especially to Utah Tech.

Dixie is the region of the country we live in. The South. There's nothing fricking offensive about it. This bs war on everything male, conservative, white, Christian and Southern has got to stop. Renaming a school over the word Dixie....complete asshattery.