Professor Jennings’ first name in “Animal House” is Dave. Donald Sutherland plays Dave Jennings, the English professor at the fictional Faber College who is notably more relaxed and unconventional than the school’s authoritarian administrators.
Jennings is introduced as a countercultural academic who shares marijuana with members of Delta Tau Chi and treats his students with unusual informality. His classroom scenes help establish the film’s contrast between the rebellious fraternity and the rigid college leadership represented by Dean Vernon Wormer.
The character’s full name is often given as Professor David Jennings, while the movie and cast references commonly use “Dave.” That makes Dave the natural canonical answer for a trivia question asking for his first name. Another memorable detail is that Jennings tells the students he teaches mainly to pay the bills while he works on his novel, reinforcing his absent-minded, bohemian personality.