Bob Barker Donates Additional $1 Million to Drury to Establish Animal Rights Professorship

USA Today | October 28, 2009

Bob Barker has donated an additional $1 million to his alma mater Drury University to establish a professorship that he hopes will lead to the nation's first undergraduate degree program in animal rights. Patricia McEachern, currently a professor of French, received the new professorship. McEachern stated that she was unsure when the animal rights program would be started, but she hopes to add two more courses to the program in the next two years. Commenting on the program, Barker stated, "I think some students would become full-fledged animal rights activists.Some will become lawyers and doctors who will always be interested in animal rights. And some will have more respect for animals." If Drury establishes the new animal rights program, Barker said he expects other schools to duplicate it. This donation follows a similar donation last year where Barker donated $1 million to Drury to establish a Forum on Animal Rights, which led to an undergraduate course on animal ethics. Barker has also donated $1 million to eight laws schools, including Harvard and UCLA, to fund courses on animal law.