Challenge and Support (1950s)
Challenge
Utah Governor J. Bracken Lee was an active proponent of limiting state expenditures.[1] Utah had a higher ratio of state to private sponsored schools than most states in the U.S. and Lee viewed this as a potential way to cut costs. He began conversations with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as early as 1950 to pursue the idea of the church taking back schools.[2] In 1954, the Utah State Legislature voted to abandon ownership of Dixie, Weber, Snow, and Carbon (now Utah State University Eastern) colleges.[3] The first three would be returned to the church, while Carbon College was to be abolished. A successful petition added referenda on the November ballot enabling Utah voters to decide whether the legislation would stand or be repealed.[4] The First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responded that should the bill hold; they would agree to take ownership of the three schools and continue to “operate them as high-class accredited Junior Colleges.”[5]
Some residents publicly opined that the State favored the Branch Agricultural College (now Southern Utah University) and had been far less supportive of Dixie.[6] They felt that the state had not adequately supported the college’s growth. Building projects, like the girls’ dormitory, relied on community support to begin construction with little to no aid from the state.[7] The Dixie College Alumni Association got involved and and actively campaigned to return the college to the church.[8] Orval Hafen, a state senator from St. George, surmised that “more than 90 per cent of the people served by the Dixie college [sic] believe that the transfer to the L.D.S. church presents an opportunity we cannot afford to miss.”[9] While Washington County residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of returning Dixie Junior College to church ownership,[10] communities in northern Utah were much more critical of the legislation and voted to keep the junior colleges under state control.[11] Ogden, home of Weber College, was particularly opposed to the bill. The northern voter numbers prevailed, and the three colleges retained their status as state institutions.[12]
One of the most pressing issues for Dixie Junior College in the 1940s and 1950s was providing enough housing to accommodate the growing number of students.[13] In 1945, Governor Herbert B. Maw approved an appropriation that funded trailers to support a surge of World War II veterans taking advantage of the G.I. Bill.[14] The Dixie Educational Association helped solicit donations and purchased land for college expansions.[15] The association considered building housing for students to be one of its main priorities, especially the pressing need for a new women’s dormitory.[16] The association also worked with community members to organize fundraising events, such as carnivals.[17]
It took many years for the women's dormitory project to be fully funded and completed. In 1954, during the debate over school ownership, Senator Orval Hafen argued that the community needed to come together and complete the dormitory and finish paying for the new campus land. He believed this coordinated effort would help convince leaders of both the state and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “that here is a community which deserves a fine, thriving school and is going to have one.”[18] The community did come together for the project. In an interview, Maggie (Brooks) Stucki recalled that some citizens even donated personal labor as a way of contributing to the dormitory.[19] The women’s dormitory finally opened in 1956 and was known as Dixiana.[20] Dixiana is now Utah Tech University's "University Inn."[21] As the college recieved increased support from the state and community, they expanded into a new campus that officially opened in 1963 and was completed in stages.[22]
Citations
[1] Elwin Lee Reynolds, "J. Bracken Lee and Utah Public Education," MA Thesis, Brigham Young University, 1973, 87-89, 91, https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5067.
[2] Reynolds, "J. Bracken Lee,” 87.
[3] Act Discontinuing Colleges as State Maintained Institutions, S.B. 39, 30th Legislature, Chapter 24 (1954), 60-61, Hein Online, https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.ssl/ssut0052&i=94.;
Abolition of Carbon College as State Maintained Institution, S.B. 29, 30th Legislature, Chapter 22 (1954), 57, Hein Online, https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.ssl/ssut0052&i=91.;
M. Judd. Harmon, “The 1954 Election in Utah,” The Western Political Quarterly 7, no. 4 (1954), JSTOR, 627-628, https://doi.org/10.2307/442816.
[4] “Letter of Governor J. Bracken Lee and Answer of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Proposed Return of Weber, Snow, and Dixie Junior Colleges to the Church,” May 1954, J. Bracken Lee Digital Collection, digitized from the J. Bracken Lee Collection, Box 13, Folder 5, Item 5, Utah State University Eastern Library, Price, Utah, https://digital.lib.usu.edu/digital/collection/Lee/id/267/rec/1.
[5] “Letter of Governor J. Bracken Lee and Answer of the First Presidency,” 3.
[6] Nora R. Lyman, "Observations," Washington County News (St. George, UT), October 28, 1954, 1, Microfilm, Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives.
[7] Douglas D. Alder, A Century of Dixie State College of Utah (St. George, UT: Dixie State College, 2010), 116.;
Lyman, “Observations,” 1.
[8] Orval Hafen, "Dixie College to Open as Usual in September; State Funds Allocated," Washington County News (St. George, UT), June 3, 1954, 1, Microfilm, Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives.
[9] Orval Hafen, "Dixie College to Open as Usual.”
[10] "Unofficial Returns from Washington County General Election November 2, 1954," Washington County News (St. George, UT), November 4, 1954, 1, Microfilm, Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives.
To read a copy of the ballot text, see "Referendum to Senate Bill 39," Washington County News (St. George, UT), October 28, 1954, 8, Microfilm, Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives.
[11] Orval Hafen, "Senator Orval Hafen Discusses Status of Junior Colleges," Washington County News (St. George, UT), January 14, 1954, 1, Microfilm, Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives.;
Ogden Standard Examiner (Ogden, UT), December 10, 1953, 1, Utah Digital Newspapers, https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6j72h2r.; Harmon, “The 1954 Election in Utah,” 628.;
Reynolds, "J. Bracken Lee,” 89-90.;
Douglas D. Alder, A Century of Dixie State College of Utah, 111.
[12] Harmon, “The 1954 Election in Utah,” 628.
[13] Photocopy of Meeting Minute Book, 1946-1965, Dixie Educational Association Collection, UA-034, Box: UA-SC-1, Folder: 9, 3-5, Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives, https://archives.utahtech.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/10996.
[14] "Appropriation Approved for Trailer House Camp," Dixie Junior College Student Newspaper (St. George, UT), November 16, 1945, 5, Utah Digital Newspapers, https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s61w11dz.;
"Trailer Homes May House Student Vets at Dixie College," Washington County News (St. George, UT), September 13, 1945, 1, Utah Digital Newspapers, https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6kh22n2.
"Servicemen's Readjustment Act (1944)," National Archives, last modified May 3, 2022, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/servicemens-readjustment-act#:~:text=Signed%20into%20law%20by%20President,WWII%20and%20later%20military%20conflicts.
[15] Photocopy of Meeting Minute Book, 7, 10-11.
[16] Photocopy of Meeting Minute Book, 3-5.
[17] Dixie Junior College to Fawn S. Picket, December 18, 1950, Correspondence 1950 - 1959, Campus Buildings Collection, UA-053, Box 1, Folder 11, Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives, https://archives.utahtech.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/19306.
Arthur F. Bruhn to Kenneth C. Weaver, January 15, 1959, Correspondence 1950 - 1959, Campus Buildings Collection, UA-053, Box 1, Folder 11, Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives, https://archives.utahtech.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/19306.
[18] Orval Hafen, "Senator Orval Hafen Discusses Status of Junior Colleges," Washington County News (St. George, UT), January 14, 1954, 4, Microfilm, Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives.
[19] Maggie Brooks Stucki, "Interview with Maggie (Brooks) Stucki," by Douglas D. Alder, Doug D. Alder Oral History Collection, January 11, 2008, Transcript, Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives, https://research.ebsco.com/c/5pbjd6/search/details/6oauzmghlv?q=maggie%20stucki%20interview&proxyApplied=true.
[20] "University Inn," Utah Tech University, accessed May 8, 2025, https://housing.utahtech.edu/hall-information/university-inn/.
[21] Bentley, “Brief Historical Comments,” 2.
[22] The Dixie 1961 (St. George, UT: The Associated Students of Dixie College, 1961), 4, 74-75, 137, Utah Tech University Library Digital Collections, https://digital.library.utahtech.edu/items/show/1112.;
Dixie ‘63 (St. George, UT: 1963), 4, Utah Tech University Library Digital Collections. https://digital.library.utahtech.edu/items/show/1114.
Images
The Dixie 1948 (St. George, UT: Dixie Junior College), Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives, https://digital.library.utahtech.edu/items/show/1099.
The Dixie 1961 (St. George, UT: Dixie Junior College), Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives, https://digital.library.utahtech.edu/items/show/1112.
Lamont F. Toronto, "Proposition No. 1," Washington County News (St. George, UT), October 28, 1954, Microfilm, Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives.