Face coverings must be worn indoors at Hendrix College effective immediately, the private liberal arts college in Conway announced Wednesday.
President Ellis Arnold in a message emailed to students, faculty and staff cited “a significant rise” in covid-19 cases and hospitalizations.
Arnold said the state “is a high-transmission area at this time.” He also described the decision as based on “our priority to protect our ability to hold in-person classes safely and successfully this fall.”
A state law prohibiting state-supported universities and public schools from requiring face coverings does not apply to private schools like Hendrix.
Hendrix College last fall held classes remotely when a large majority of Arkansas colleges and universities returned with some in-person classes.
Among other private universities in the state, John Brown University, a Christian university in Siloam Springs, on its website states that students will be required to wear face coverings in classrooms and that face coverings will also be required when groups of more than 12 are meeting indoors and during chapel services.
The Hendrix campus re-opened this past spring with a face covering requirement in place, but on June 21 the college dropped the requirement for individuals vaccinated against covid-19.
Amy Forbus, a spokeswoman for Hendrix College, said there is no vaccination requirement for students.
But unvaccinated students are expected to shoulder the costs of required covid-19 tests they will have to take during the fall semester unless they follow a state exemption process in place for mumps, measles and rubella, or MMR, vaccinations.
Arnold said a campus covid-19 steering committee “will continue adjusting policies and requirements as necessary based on the latest available public health data and guidance” from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as other authorities.