 This led to Rutgers opting for inclusion among Division I, and later, under president Francis L. Lawrence, to join the Big East Conference in 1991.William C. Dowling, a University Professor in the Department of English, and other like-minded faculty, students and alumni organized a movement known as "Rutgers 1000" in 1993, working to return Rutgers to its older tradition of participatory athletics by joining such institutions as the University of Chicago and NYU in the NCAA's Div III.Though the group dissolved itself in 2003 under the mistaken impression that President Richard McCormick supported its position, it was revived in 2007 when McCormick and the Board of Governors announced a $102 million expansion of the football stadium.