USU flies new state flag on campus
On April 7, Utah State University flew the new Utah state flag and shared a picture of it on their Instagram account. The photo’s caption said, “ We found the perfect spot for our new state flag.”
In the comments of the post, @mikejohnson.photo commented, “Yes! Looking so good!”
Another commenter, @aggie_krystal, shared, “Even the beauty of Old Main can’t make that terrible flag look good. Nice try, though.”
Just like these comments, the debate about Utah’s new flag is heavily divided, with people passionate about both sides.
According to a poll conducted by Deseret News and Hinckley Institute of Politics, 48% supported the new flag, 35% opposed it and 17% said they didn’t know.
On March 22, Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill and executive order finalizing Utah’s new flag and making the old flag a historic state flag.
These changes will be adopted March 9, 2024, however Utah residents can purchase the new flag and display it now.
While the new flag has been successfully passed, there are those who are still fighting to keep the old one in place.
The most notable defense was a referendum filed by a group of Utah residents in March. The referendum needed at least 134,000 signatures. However, on April 14, it was released that the referendum only received 50,000 and failed.
USU political science professor Steve Sharp, a lecturer for USU shared his thoughts.
“I think they followed a process which was acceptable,” Sharp said. “It wasn’t my favorite choice for the model. I think aesthetically, it’s confusing, but nevertheless, I’m happy with them doing it if that’s what they wanted to do.”
When asked if he thought the flag change was a waste of time, Sharp said it wasn’t a critical issue.
“ I think these kinds of things are okay,” Sharp said. “I mean, one of the things they voted on was a state crustacean, but, I don’t think they spent a lot of time on that either. There is room for these kinds of symbolic gestures and so forth in a democracy, so I’m not critical of them for spending time on this.”
USU student Drew Eden also shared his views.
“I can’t really speak for the people, but I didn’t really want a new flag. I don’t really know many people were really gunning for it,” Eden said, “I don’t think either design is terrible. I think the old design has a lot of heritage to it.”
When asked why he thought the debate about the flag change was escalated, Eden said he believed it was because people value a symbol that represents their state.
“Maybe people have a lot of pride about that. It just doesn’t really affect my life day to day whatsoever and I think the new design is fine, so I don’t really mind it.”
-Alivia.Hadfield@usu.edu
Featured photo by Josh Bengtzen