St. George • At a Utah Tech University Trailblazer game last month, two shirts caught the attention of President Shane Smeed.

A man wore one adorned with the Utah Tech University logo. Next to him sat a woman, wearing a Dixie State College shirt.

Seeing the current and former name of the university side-by-side wasn’t jarring — it was the point. Nearly four years after state lawmakers ordered the school to drop the “Dixie” name over concerns about its ties to slavery and the Confederacy, the debate still simmers in St. George.

To Smeed, the school’s Dixie heritage is something that should be saluted, not shunned.

“It’s not a goal to whitewash that history. It’s not a goal to not allow alumni to support the college that is on their diploma, whether that is Dixie Junior College or Dixie State University,” Smeed told The Tribune in an interview.

To that end, the university has once again started to sell merchandise dubbed the Heritage Line with the old Dixie name at the school’s bookstore, a decision made “to bridge that [divide],” Smeed said.

The school officially changed its name in July 2022. Supporters argued that the old name was hurting graduates’ job opportunities and made recruiting quality faculty to the institution more challenging.

But the name change angered many longtime residents, who argue that the word “Dixie” is not racist and have accused state lawmakers who mandated the change and university officials who supported it of being “woke.”

Years after the change, the debate remains. Last July, Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, proposed restoring the university’s original name. Thus far, Lee has not introduced legislation to enact this change and did not respond to requests for comment.

Smeed said he is not aware of any plans in the state Legislature to revert back to the old name. He is not anxious to fan the flames on the issue that has divided the campus and community. He argues that the university can stick with its current name and polytechnic mission and still honor the school and region’s pioneer past and Dixie roots.

“We are not running from the term [Dixie],” he explained. “We are embracing Utah Tech University and inviting members of the community from the past, present and future to unify. It’s important to me that we build unity with our community.”

Besides selling Dixie-branded gear at the school, Smeed said his unifying efforts involve talking about the area’s rich heritage and how Brigham Young sent hundreds of families in 1861 to the region to try their hand at growing cotton, which is where the nickname “Dixie” was derived.

That story is also shared on campus at Heritage Cove, which was added in 2023 to the university’s Encampment Mall, the original pioneer memorial where early Mormon settlers camped and taught classes.

Smeed, who had never set foot in St. George until applying for his present position, said he has gained an “incredible appreciation” for the area’s history and heritage since his arrival.

“I know what it means when the community talks about the Dixie spirit and references Utah’s Dixie,” he said. “Part of my appreciation for that history is a commitment to share the stories of the early settlers and pioneers [who] arrived here and prioritized education.”

A split still remains

Jeanetta Williams, longtime president of the NAACP’s Salt Lake City branch, said the word “Dixie” should not be celebrated, nor should the school’s history with the term.

Williams noted that the school once had a statue depicting Confederate soldiers, one of whom carried the Confederate battle flag. The school’s longtime Rebel mascot, she added, was removed in 2005 and eventually replaced with Brooks the Bison, the first student to enroll at the institution. And some of the school’s yearbooks in the late 1960s were named “The Confederate” and contained racist images like students in blackface.

“I object to anyone wanting to continue using the name ‘Dixie’ or celebrating that history because it was offensive then, and it still is offensive today,” she said. “It should be done away with completely.”

Ilene Hacker, president of the Defending Southwest Heritage Coalition, said celebrating the school’s Dixie heritage does not go far enough.

“I think it’s the only way that they get the community to come back together is to reinstate the Dixie name,” she said. “They need to change it back because they painted the community as racist when the name was changed to Utah Tech University.”

Donations rise after name change

Cash, though, might carry some currency for leaving the name as it is. Since the 2022 renaming, annual donations have remained well above pre-change levels. The university received $2.7 million in gifts in 2021. That total climbed to $3.5 million in 2022 and peaked at $13.6 million in 2023. Even after that spike, giving has held steady at $5 million in 2024 and $5.8 million in 2025 — roughly double what the school raised before the name change.

Adding to financial arguments to retain the current name is the cost of changing it back. St. George City Council member Natalie Larsen, who prefers the old name, said she has been told by the university that the cost of reverting back to Dixie State University could run into the millions.

University spokesperson Jyl Hall said the sticker shock could be steep.

“We haven’t looked into what the cost of rebranding would be in the current economic climate, but in 2022, we received a $3 million appropriation from the Utah State Legislature for rebranding and used the full amount,” she said.

Danica Brown, a sophomore biomedicine major, doesn’t have a strong opinion on either name but said the university should stick with the new name because of all the trouble and expense that went into changing it. “It would be a waste of resources and time to change it back.”

Others, including sociology professor Matt Smith-Lahrman, say keeping the current name makes practical sense for the university’s national reputation.

“I think it would hurt the university to go back to Dixie because it would make it harder to recruit [faculty] nationally. Nobody knows where the heck Dixie is. Utah Tech says where we are, that we are a technical college, and it makes the school sound more like a legitimate university.”

But some affinity for the Dixie name remains.

Student Samantha Burns, whose father was a librarian at the school until retiring recently, wants to make the switch.

“We know it as Dixie. We love Dixie State,” she said. “Going back to the old name would put the pride back in the school and in the city.”

As a longtime “Dixie kid,” St. George Mayor Jimmie Hughes said he prefers the old name but also realizes the new one is here to stay.

“If [the name change] doesn’t happen, it’s still Dixie to me,” he said. “I’ll call it Utah Tech as well. Maybe the name should be Utah Tech at Dixie.”