Previously, Rogers State University operated an equine-assisted therapy program on its campus. In 2004, the university stated its intentions to begin a $2 million capital campaign to support the program. That year, a local resident, Wanda Sanders, donated 20 acres to support the program and later gave an additional 40 acres four years later. In a lawsuit filed in 2017, Sanders alleged that the land donations were not used to their donated intent and that university transferred the land to another organization in 2013. The land was then sold, again, to the university's foundation, a separate, tax-exempt organization. The university later attempted to mediate the lawsuit in 2017.