After SC Supreme Court decision, Clemson now will require masks on campus

Clemson University students will be required to wear masks inside all state-owned buildings on campus.

The university administration changed its mask requirements after the S.C. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the University of South Carolina could mandate mask wearing, despite a proviso from the General Assembly that such mandates were not allowed.

Masks will be required in classrooms, instructional facilities, offices, labs, and residential and dining halls except while eating or in private spaces.

A news release from Clemson said the requirement will be in place for three weeks.

“This three-week period coincides with the greatest risk predicted by our public health team’s modeling of the disease,” the statement said. “Masks were shown in our models to have a significant impact on curbing the spread of the virus and correspondingly enhances our ability to stay in person.

Clemson’s decision comes shortly after USC issued a similar requirement after the court case was decided.

Several school districts, cities and counties, including Richland and Charleston, are requiring masks in schools. Greenville County, the state’s largest school district, is not. Students started school in Greenville County Tuesday.

Some Clemson professors had planned to walk out of their classrooms Wednesday to show support for a mask mandate.

Kimberly Paul, a genetics professor, planned to walk out because she was concerned the administration and students were not taking the threat of COVID-19 and the delta variant seriously.

Clemson did not intend to follow masking guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

“This protest is to demand that the University be brave and do the hard thing,” she said in an email before the court ruling was released. “We want the Clemson administration to stand up to the State Legislature and the Governor to overturn their negligent law.”

Paul said the gathering will shift from a walkout to a protest and teach-in, now that masks are required. She wants to talk to students and others about the reasons masks and other safety measures are important.

She also said she thinks the mask mandate should extend through the semester.

“Three weeks seems short and arbitrary,” she said.

Communications professor Andrew Pyle, who has been outspoken in his support for the walkout, said he was satisfied with the university’s decision.

This story was originally published August 17, 2021 at 8:41 PM.