ORANGEBURG, S.C. — South Carolina State University is requiring masks for all students and staff on campus, effective immediately.
The school announced Wednesday the rule will apply inside all university buildings, except in personal offices, campus residence halls, and while eating.
The university said it will continue to monitor the situation to determine the proper duration of requiring masks and/or any modification to the directive
The school had earlier postponed the start of fall classes from August 18 to August 23 to to prepare for possible disruptions from COVID-19.
This comes after Tuesday's ruling by the South Carolina Supreme Court that mask mandates at South Carolina colleges and universities do not violate state law. It had earlier been believed a budget proviso--which is a spending rule in the budget--prohibited a mask mandate. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson told USC as much in a letter when that school attempted to pass a mandate.
But a professor at the University of South Carolina challenged that thinking, and argued his case to the Supreme Court. Justices sided with the professor, saying the wording of the proviso only prevented discrimination over vaccine status, not mandates campuswide.
Shortly after the ruling became public, USC reinstituted the mask mandate they'd dropped after getting the letter for Wilson. Clemson University and the College of Charleston followed suit.
Currently the state is in the middle of a rapid surge in cases caused by the Delta variant of the coronavirus. The state has seen an increase in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.
