[Updated 8/18/2021, 9 a.m., with information from Clemson; 8/17/2021, 7:20 p.m., with a statement from U. of South Carolina; and 8/17/2021, 4:45 p.m., with a South Carolina Supreme Court opinion on mask mandates at public colleges.]
South Carolina’s two largest universities announced mask requirements Tuesday evening, following a ruling from the South Carolina Supreme Court that the University of South Carolina and other public colleges could order face coverings on their campuses after all.
The flagship institution, which announced a mask requirement in late July and then retracted it after the Republican state attorney general issued an opinion stating that the legislature had intended to prohibit public colleges from requiring masks, announced Tuesday evening that it was reissuing the indoor mask mandate as a result of the court ruling.
“Ultimately, it is the responsibility of all members of our Gamecock community to help protect ourselves and others by adopting sound public-health practices as we continue our efforts to safeguard our campus against this still-evolving health concern,” Harris Pastides, the interim president, said in a statement.
Clemson University followed by mandating masks on campus for three weeks, meant to coincide “with the greatest risk predicted by our public health team’s modeling of the disease.”
Some Clemson faculty had planned to walk out of class on Wednesday morning — the first day of the semester — in protest of the administration’s decision not to require face coverings, before the Supreme Court decision was announced. Kimberly Paul, an associate professor of genetics and chemistry who announced the protest on Saturday in a Facebook post, told a Chronicle reporter in a message on Tuesday night that the protest was still slated to take place, “mainly to ensure the mask mandate stays put for the semester while the [Delta] variant wave is peaking.”
“But even a short mask mandate is a relief,” Paul said in her message. “Hopefully this demonstration will also allow us to do some educating about Covid-19, masking, vaccinations, and other interventions to stop the Delta variant from spreading.”
The issue of mask requirements has become a third rail at South Carolina’s public colleges. In June, the state legislature passed a budget proviso prohibiting mask mandates in public schools, though the status of public colleges remained contentious. Calls to lift the ban have increased in recent weeks, and a few public school districts have flouted it.
On Tuesday, the court found that nothing in the budget proviso indicated the legislature’s intent to prohibit all mask mandates at colleges and universities in the state.
Meanwhile, South Carolina State University, a historically Black public institution in Orangeburg, announced it would be delaying the start of classes until next Monday to allow more students time to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. Classes were originally scheduled to start on Wednesday.
