Not as something that is for the benefit of the MacKenzies, the people who were being brought into the school, but actually for the benefit of the university itself, its image and also for the students. Because Im not under any illusion that Im the typical foster kid. [2], Fierceton refused, and a week before she withdrew from the Rhodes Scholarship, Penn's Office of Student Conduct (OSC) notified Fierceton it, too, would be investigating. The New Yorker reported that Fierceton reported this to Penn's campus police, fearing that her mother had somehow found out where she was living. In between those placements, she slept at friends' houses for long periods. Mackenzie Fierceton, C'20, has been awarded a 2021 Rhodes Scholarship for graduate study at the University of Oxford. I think youre right. Rather than it being for the purpose of benefiting the students themselves. She and a separate witness said records of child-welfare agencies from years earlier are not easy to obtain. Although she had not attended an orientation session for first-generation/low-income (FGLI) students she had been invited to, on campus she began attending meetings and gatherings of Penn First, an FGLI student group founded the preceding year to pressure Penn to better accommodate their needs, such as not closing dormitories and cafeterias over breaks since many FGLI students could not, for various reasons, return home during those periods. [2], The next morning, when Fierceton awoke, Morrison told her she was taking her car keys and telling the school she was sick. RG: Talk just a little bit about that case . [2], In July the OSC concluded its investigation with a 31-page report sent to provost Wendell Pritchett examining Fierceton's background more extensively than the Rhodes Trust had. She had not, she insisted, written her original essay with the intent of increasing her chances of admission. She ruined her moms career. But afterwards she was anxious enough about how her mother might react to remain on the other side of the kitchen counter island from Morrison while they talked in the kitchen, "bracing for impact", she wrote in her diary. I want to talk about where you think that pushback came from. In addition to the complaint she had made against Lovelace, a similar complaint to police that her mother was abusing prescription drugs also did not yield any evidence to support it. And now they have to face the fact that someone who looks like them, who shares all these identities with them, could be the source of all of this harm. . or in graduate school. Fierceton's life story, as well as her self-identification as a "first generation" college student, came under scrutiny by the university when an anonymous email alleged that Fierceton was not. She got straight A's, served in student government, managed the field hockey team, played varsity soccer, and volunteered to assist with the local Special Olympics. And I dont remember exactly what their statement was, but they disputed it. As a result she withdrew from the Rhodes Scholarship; a sympathetic Penn faculty member has paid her Oxford tuition in its stead.[2]. At the University of Pennsylvania, she received a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in social work through a combined five-year program. Yes, to my lawyer who communicated it to me. But part of it is funding decisions. Morrison was arrested and charged with felony child abuse and third-degree assault (a misdemeanor) in the incident that had led to Fierceton's hospitalization, and an additional felony child abuse count for the incident that had triggered the DSS caseworker's visit earlier in the year; the arrest warrant alleged that Morrison had deliberately slammed her daughter's head into the table. verbally. The mother of a friend of Fierceton's recalls that when she told Morrison on the phone that she "was not interested" in hearing what Morrison had to say, she got angry and confrontational. And so the fact that shes continued pursuing you to me kind of demonstrates the entire case. And whats the difference between the U.S. and English system? Fierceton began secretly documenting physical and psychological abuse by her mother, a radiologist, during her high school years. [Laughs.]. RG: I think for a lot of us, we have to sort of other poverty and abuse and put it in a box, partly, to protect ourselves. And still, it was just like: Nope. RG: Is that what sent you into a surreal state? Betsy Reed is The Intercepts editor in chief. The Chronicle reports that although she spent her final year of high school in foster care, the student had grown up in an affluent suburb of St. Louis with her mother, a radiologist, and attended private schools. [2], Wendy Ruderman, a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer, called Fierceton to interview her for a story about the scholarship. [2], Almost three months later, The New Yorker ran a longer article about Fierceton, which had taken the magazine eight months to report and fact-check. My life is over, Im in the hospital, Im at rock bottom. I have all these three kinds of different rationale and corroborations. RG: Like questioning: How much blood? She didnt know he was in the basement. And because poverty and abuse are so pervasive in society and particularly in a country that has such a minimal social safety net and has so much violence. It was more, I think, in the times after and the months after where I ended up like giving different medical records and all of these things to corroborate my account, but there were a few questions that were very specific to what had happened. OSC referred the recommendation to an SP2 panel to make a final determination; she has subsequently appealed the decision. She was an independent student when she applied. And now they have to face the fact that someone who looks like them, who shares all these identities with them, could be the source of all of this harm. Then the University of Pennsylvania accused her of. And theyll openly talk about this. Fierceton clarified her identity during the interview:[4]. RG: And do you know Linda Tirado? Its just so obvious that you fit the criteria for low-income, but it seems like they feel like you dont fit it in the spirit of how they want it. I think there were almost 30 of those letters again, very similar to who had given statements in the past to corroborate my abuse as well as leaders in the FGLI community saying yes, we started this community. According to an investigation by the Chronicle of Higher Education, University of Pennsylvania student Mackenzie Fierceton lost her Rhodes scholarship and her master's degree was withheld after. [2] Afterwards Morrison changed her daughter's last name to her own. [2] Winkelstein, who has a Ph.D. in bioengineering and has studied injuries,[3] then proceeded to interrogate Fierceton at length about her abuse and hospitalization, in a manner that led Fierceton to believe that not only did Winkelstein doubt her story but had spoken with Morrison. Margulis later told The New Yorker that he had been telling the prosecutor repeatedly that Fierceton "had no credibility and made all of this up", the same theme as Morrison's many arguments in person and over the phone to other Whitfield parents. A graduate student named Mackenzie Fierceton was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship by the University of Pennsylvania in 2020 only to have it stripped from her a few months later after allegations. So the students had to form a human chain from the first floor down to the basement where all our classes are to relay instructions from the paramedics, the Philadelphia paramedics, to the professor who was, to my understanding, performing CPR. [3], After the interview White emailed Morrison about how it went; she wrote back regretting that Fierceton continued to tell the same story. MF: Yeah. So you use what you have, uh, which are the definitions that were already out there. So the Rhodes Trust ended up after their quote-investigation, and I submitted all the evidence, they ended up still recommending that my scholarship be rescinded, uh, but I had another opportunity to respond to their report, which I absolutely wanted to do. But that was definitely a driving force for why I decided, ultimately, to withdraw because I felt like: OK, federal prison is no joke. She wasn't poor and grew up in a wealthy household with a successful mother. The court granted Morrison a protection order against her former husband; Fierceton had no relationship with him from that time onward. In addition it offered details of what its own investigation had concluded about Fierceton's childhood and adolescence that led OSC to believe it was likely that she had exaggerated or fabricated outright her claims about her mother. Her mothers name was entered into a registry of abusers. In The New Yorker piece, a nurse assigned to Mackenzie is quoted as saying, She had two black eyes, and her hair was full of blood. At her request Penn kept her contact information out of the school's directory on its website. Fierceton said later that she had never used the word "poor" to describe herself or her childhood. How long were you in the hospital? What foster family were you with in X,Y, Z year? [2] Her father, Billy Terrell,[1] had been an actor in soap operas. Like you said, I was called into a meeting. We dont believe you. A Rhodes Scholar who claimed that she had grown up in the foster system has lost her scholarship after an investigation revealed that she grew up in a middle-class family and attended a $30,000-per-annum private school. he asked in the first. Nothing I have is persuasive to these people. Ryan Grim: This weeks guest on Deconstructed is Mackenzie Fierceton, who was the subject of a recent story in The New Yorker. RG: Right. [2], During her high school years, Fierceton has alleged that her mother subjected her to emotional and physical abuse, the latter enough on more than one occasion to require hospitalization. Its account focused on the Rhodes controversy, discussing her and Driver's suits near the end, and recalling some other recent instances of academic dishonesty, including one 2009 Harvard student whose largely fabricated high school records were only discovered when he had applied for a Rhodes Scholarship. Fierceton joins Ryan Grim to discuss the saga of her battle with UPenn and why the Ivy Leagueinstitution seems to have so much trouble recognizing the complexity of poverty in America. We dont have ads, so we depend on our members 35,000 and counting to help us hold the powerful to account. She chose Fierceton from a list of names she had come up with herself that projected strength, and a petition to the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia was accepted. 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