Dixie inaugurates 16th president

ST. GEORGE — Washington County's booming economy is a significant contributor to Utah's financial health, yet Dixie State College is not getting its fair share of the state's higher educational dollars, said newly installed President Lee Caldwell during his inauguration Thursday.

"Today, Dixie State College operates on a state allocation that is approximately two-thirds that of peer institutions in the state," said Caldwell, who served as college president for nearly nine months before being officially inaugurated. "This college (has succeeded) by relying heavily on adjunct faculty members, paying faculty and staff at rates far below market rates and demanding a heavier load. This cannot continue, given the current cost of living in Washington County."

Dixie now offers bachelor's degrees in selected areas of emphasis, he noted, though only five new degrees have been added in six years. More than 1,000 associate and bachelor's degrees were conferred during graduation ceremonies held the day following his inauguration.

"This year we raised tuition by a significant amount," Caldwell said. "We are still highly affordable by any measure, but even if we raised our tuition to the level of the University of Utah, we could not begin to close this significant gap in the level of state support."

Dixie State College has "tantalizing potential" as a baccalaureate-granting institution, he added.

"It is clear that the state, county and region have much to gain from an accelerated and cooperative push to realize that potential," Caldwell said. "The state of Utah is certainly beginning to pay some of the costs of ignorance and those costs will escalate unless we all work together to make a difference."

Inaugural speaker Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, of the Quorum of the Twelve of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said students at his beloved alma mater "hold the key to the future of our planet."

"I am making an unequivocal appeal for a moral climate to reign always at Dixie State College, whatever one's particular religious faith may be or indeed if one has no particular religious faith at all," said Elder Holland, who was a student leader and varsity athlete during his Dixie College years. "What I speak of here has nothing to do with denominationalism; it has everything to do with the way a democracy works and the way civilizations survive."

A school president's first and foremost responsibility is to have a clear vision of what the institution should be and what it can become, he emphasized.

"No institution can be all things to all people. Choices must be made and priorities assigned," he said. "Can there be a quiet infusion of what we mean by 'the Spirit of Old Dixie' in virtually everything that is done here? Well, there can be if the president's vision is clear enough and his sense of mission communicated relentlessly enough."

---

E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com