Coastal Carolina will require all individuals to wear masks indoors on campus
Coastal Carolina University will require all individuals to wear masks indoors for the start of the fall semester, which begins Wednesday.
The school’s board of trustees approved an indoor mask mandate at an emergency meeting Tuesday night.
The Supreme Court of South Carolina ruled Tuesday afternoon that public universities in the state, including the University of South Carolina, have the right to require all students to wear masks inside to prevent the spread of the highly contagious COVID-19 virus.
All individuals, regardless of vaccination status, will be required to wear face coverings indoors at CCU.
The mandate applies to all spaces across campus except for private offices and assigned residential rooms, suites, and apartments. An exception to the mask requirement will also apply for those who are actively eating inside a campus dining facility.
The university stated in a release: “We are mindful of the surging Delta variant all around us and want to do all we can to ensure the safety of our faculty, staff, and students. We will continue to monitor conditions and will update this policy as the situation requires.
The university’s Fall 2021 Operations Plan website will be updated regularly with the school’s coronavirus policies.
S.C. Supreme Court rules on masks in colleges
In a unanimous six-page opinion issued Tuesday afternoon, the state’s highest court ruled that a state budget measure — known as a proviso — that passed in the General Assembly this year “does not prohibit a universal mask mandate” at the University of South Carolina.
The court added that the university cannot single out unvaccinated students and require only them to wear a mask.
South Carolina and Clemson are among the other colleges in the state that quickly enacted mask mandates for the start of the fall semester.
USC President Harris Pastides ordered a university mask mandate in July for all students, faculty and staff, but S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson wrote him a letter that said the proviso passed by the General Assembly prohibited a universal mask mandate at state universities.
Pastides rescinded the mask mandate, but USC astrophysics Professor Richard Creswick filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court seeking clarification on the proviso that Wilson claimed prohibited USC from requiring a universal mask mandate, and the court heard the case on an emergency basis Tuesday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says masks are a proven way to prevent or reduce transmission of COVID-19 in indoor settings, and recommends masks be worn in indoor areas and in crowds.
The nation, South Carolina and the Myrtle Beach area are currently experiencing another surge in COVID-19 cases spurred by the COVID delta variant. Only 45% of South Carolinians are completely vaccinated, and 54% have received at least one shot, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
