COLUMBIA, S.C. — A group of University of South Carolina faculty members want the school's interim president to reinstate a mask mandate that was abandoned after he received an opinion from the state attorney general.
The USC American Association of University Professors sent a letter to Interim President Dr. Harris Pastides saying he made a mistake by backing off of the mandate, and they wanted to express their "deep disappointment."
"The policy you introduced at the faculty town hall last Friday encouraged us to believe that the university was doing its utmost to ensure the safety of faculty, staff, students, and the broader Columbia community," the letter stated.
On July 30, Pastides announced that masks would be required inside all campus buildings except inside dorm rooms, private offices, or while eating at dining halls. But on August 2, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson sent a letter to Pastides saying what the school was doing violated a proviso put into the state budget that was passed in June. "A public institution of higher learning, including a technical college, may not use any funds appropriated or authorized pursuant to this act to require that its students have received the COVID-19 vaccination in order to be present at the institution's facilities without being required to wear a facemask," the proviso read.
Wilson said while that clause wasn't worded well, it was the legislature's intent to ban mask mandates. Pastides then said the school must follow the law and stated face coverings wouldn't be required.
However, days later, a USC professor filed paperwork at the South Carolina Supreme Court asking them to decide that the mask mandate was legal, and that Wilson had the wrong interpretation.
The faculty group agrees, calling Wilson's opinion "ill-founded."
"You have given Alan Wilson’s opinion what we believe to be undue weight, allowing it to upend public health protections that, as a public health scholar, you know are urgently needed," they added.
It's not clear when or if the State Supreme Court will hear the professor's petition.