Dive Brief:
- The University of Utah is weighing whether to make changes to its fight song, which is considered in some circles to be sexist.
- David Pershing, the institution's president, has asked its Office of Student Affairs to study the issue and send new lyric suggestions to him by May 31 in response to pressure from student government resolutions and the faculty senate.
- “I’m a Utah man” and “our coeds are the fairest” are two of the potentially offensive phrases in the 1904 song.
Dive Insight:
The coed line actually replaced an older line that was also apparently considered offensive at one point: "We drink our stein of lager and we smoke our big cigars." The Associated Press lists some other colleges that had fight song issues in recent years: The University of Mississippi cut one of its fight songs in 2009 in an effort to prevent fans from chanting “the South will rise again,” but some fans still did. The University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2007 changed the line “Here’s to each valiant son” to “Here’s to each valiant one.” In 2006, in a change that accompanied a mascot switch from Savages to Savage Storm, Southeastern Oklahoma State University changed the lyrics “savage land” to “noble land.” And in 2003, some New Mexico State University alumni unsuccessfully lobbied for changes to a fight song that included the line: "And when we win this game we'll buy a keg of booze, and drink it to the Aggies 'til we wobble in our shoes."
