SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Tuesday, Dixie State University’s board of trustees voted unanimously that the school’s name should be changed to Utah Tech University. This comes weeks after the school’s previous name recommendation faced backlash and confusion from the St. George community.

The board voted unanimously to drop the earlier recommendation of Utah Polytechnic State University after it was widely mocked online and some critics voiced confusion over the term “polytechnic.”

“It’s clear that Utah Polytechnic State University was an epic failure, and we are willing to admit that,” board vice chairwoman Tiffany Wilson said at the meeting.

A name change committee recommended the previous name earlier this month as part of a yearlong effort to drop the Dixie name.

The recommendation will go to state boards in the coming months before being weighed by a legislative committee. If it’s rejected, the committee will work to pick another name.

The push to change the university’s name has faced backlash from those who say the term is important to the area’s heritage and is separate from the history of slavery. At least 100 pro-Dixie protesters were at the board’s Tuesday meeting, many of whom wore red shirts that said “Keep Dixie.”

The local nickname “Dixie” dates to when settlers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sought to create a cotton-growing mission in the warm climate of Washington County Utah. Numerous communities in Clark County Nevada were also settled by adherents of the Salt Lake City-based faith in the 1800’s.

The committee began meeting and studying possible new names in March, under a process outlined in a bill Gov. Spencer Cox signed earlier this year. The committee collected feedback from students, university employees, community members and a public survey before voting to remove Dixie from the name.