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When students returned to class on Troy University’s campus Aug. 11, officials held a press conference to address the university’s protocols for the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Lance Tatum, senior vice Chancellor for Academics and chair of the University’s Coronavirus Task Force and Sohail Agboatwala, interim senior vice chancellor for Student Services and Administration, discussed the university COVID-19 protocols, which can be viewed at covid.troy.edu.

Tatum said the university would also implement an incentive program for students that would encourage students to help make the Troy campus safer by being fully vaccinated. This week, the university announced the details of the vaccination incentive program.

“Vaccination is the most important step we can all take to stop the spread of COVID-19,” Tatum said. “Vaccines are free, widely available and research has shown them to be safe and effective. We strongly urge all Troy students, faculty and staff to become fully vaccinated as soon as possible.”

Agboatwala said governments should work from the bottom up, so the university reached out to Student Government Association President Maxwell George in order to get input from students on how to make the campus safer.

Agboatwala said  the SGA and the university worked together to develop a vaccination incentive program. 

Troy Campus students who are documented in the University’s system or can provide proof of full vaccination will be eligible for prize drawings that will include: 14 $1,000 scholarships, 28 $100 meal cards, and two meal plans. Six weekly drawings will be held beginning September 15 to allow time for students to become fully vaccinated.

In addition to proof of full vaccination, students must also be registered for the Fall 2021 semester and must attend at least one in-person class on the Troy Campus. An entry form is available at my.troy.edu/incentives/.

“We are pleased to be able to offer this incentive program for our students to encourage them to become fully vaccinated,” Agboatwala said. “We are grateful for the leadership shown by our SGA President to work with the administration to make these incentives possible. We are hopeful that these opportunities will provide encouragement to our students so that we can assure the safety and well-being of our campus community.”