 Also in 2007, Professor Dowling came under fire from athletic director Bob Mulcahy, regarding remarks Mulcahy claimed to perceive as being insulting to minority athletes.In 2011, Dowling received the Drake Group's Robert Maynard Hutchins Award for his opposition to the degradation of academic and intellectual values at Rutgers by commercialized Div IA athletics.Rutgers efforts to upgrade the quality of its football program have raised criticism of many alumni, faculty and students regarding the size of athletic department's budget, wishing to divert its funds elsewhere.