There's legal battle in South Carolina over an anti-mask law there that prohibits use of state funds to enforce mask mandates. The state seems to be taking the position (in so many words) that any institution that receives one dollar of state funding cannot enforce a mask requirement because the state funding dollar becomes intermingled with funds from other sources and there is therefore no way to enforce a mask mandate without using state funds. This has a "tail wagging the dog" feel to it, but it's anyone's guess how the SC Supreme Court will rule.
I have not read the court filings, but the primary issue seems to be whether or not the wording of the law encompasses the university mask requirement. In other words, the court could rule that law doesn't prohibit the university from enforcing a mask mandate without striking down the law.
>>>A South Carolina state senator and a University of South Carolina professor have asked the state’s Supreme Court to weigh in on an ongoing dispute about masks on campus. . . . The court filings follow a back-and-forth that began earlier this week when Wilson sent a letter to USC urging it to revoke its planned rule to mandate masks inside campus buildings. After receiving Wilson’s letter earlier in the week, USC changes its planned policy, which had been implemented by the university’s interim president, Harris Pastides, who has a doctorate in the study of infectious diseases and is a public health expert.
On announcing the reversal, Pastides released a statement that referred to his public health background. “During my training in epidemiology, there was a maxim about transmissible diseases like COVID-19 that stated, ‘No one can be safe until everyone is safe,’” Pastides said in the statement, explaining his rationale for initially requiring masks. “Because vaccination cannot be required in South Carolina, I felt that face coverings would go a long way in preventing the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19, which is highly contagious, on campus. I did not think that the law precluded this action.”<<<