Professor Noted in News Article for Work with Resident

A sociology and criminal justice professor is helping a local resident pursue his high school diploma decades after being expelled for joining a protest.

Hearst CT Media recently shared the story of Hartford resident Mike Fothergill, and noted Associate Professor Albert DiChiara’s involvement in his journey. 

“We’ve been working on two projects: one on poverty and redlining in Hartford, and another on the influence of Malcolm X in Hartford,” said DiChiara, department chair of sociology and criminal justice in UHart’s College of Arts and Sciences. “We published an editorial recently, and we will be doing interviews and researching documents on Malcolm X this summer and in the fall.”

In 1968, Fothergill walked out of Hartford Public High School with fellow students to protest the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis a day earlier. While he expected a detention or other consequence, he was taken aback when the school expelled him.

Fothergill is hoping the Hartford Board of Education rescinds his expulsion and gives him credit for life experience, as well as his community activism and research projects. Over the years, he’s worked with multiple nonprofit groups benefiting children and adults in the Hartford area, and received awards, DiChiara said.