[2], Later that year, after that first foster home turned out to be "chaotic", with Fierceton's foster sibling attempting suicide, she moved to another one. "[4][2], Winkelstein followed up with a letter to Elizabeth Kiss, the trust's CEO, alerting her that the university had been investigating Fierceton's story, found it to have seriously diverged from the reality of her life, with the abuse allegations quite possibly fabricated. And even now, The New Yorker quotes a lot from my childhood journals describing my abuse. That is when I would trace it back to. RG: And so youre becoming rather inconvenient to the university at that point , RG: I would assume, which plays into the way that universities and elite structures think of diversity, I think. It finds the definition the university's office uses, without that language, as being more determinative; Penn First, the FGLI student organization Fierceton had been involved with, also used that definition on its website for most of the time she was an undergraduate. It didnt, though, to the University of Pennsylvania. That evening that the article came out is when I got a call from the reporter saying: I got this anonymous email that said X, Y, Z, and I wanted to let you know. So I felt pretty confident. 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. "[1]:119, Dismissal of mother's charges and expurgation of records, Role in wrongful death suit against university, In its response to Fierceton's suit, Penn quotes Fierceton as telling police as soon as they entered her hospital room after her later injury about her diary and that it would tell them everything they would need to know. [5] Lovelace was also arrested and charged with sexual abuse. Asked by the school's wellness director (who later told police she had seen insulting texts from Morrison on Fierceton's phone) about the reasons for the injuries, Fierceton said that she was "clumsy" but did not offer any details. The court granted Morrison a protection order against her former husband; Fierceton had no relationship with him from that time onward. She had had a fairly upper middle class life yet was working at multiple fast food restaurants and barely getting by. And MacKenzie is the only one whos allowed to answer these questions. Her admission to Oxford was unaffected, and she began her graduate studies in sociology there later in the year, with a Penn professor covering her tuition. 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. And that feels like one of them where it feels like the system is willfully misunderstanding reality in order to bend it in their direction. One possible explanation for this depressing story is that Mackenzie Fierceton fraudulently accused her own mother of gravely abusing and attempting to kill her, spent 22 days in the hospital to . 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. Now Im sobbing, Im hyperventilating, and the staff member interrupted and said: Can we have an estimate of how much time is left? She was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome and released after three weeks. RG: Yeah. [1], Shortly after Penn filed its response, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported on the story. [3] The change in her living situation greatly complicated her college plans as she had no financial resources of her own. And we have our own specific grad school definitions. She and a separate witness said records of child-welfare agencies from years earlier are not easy to obtain. Im part of a wrongful death lawsuit that was filed in August, 2020. Instead, I want to talk more about what this says about the system, that something so seemingly irrational could be produced by this system, and actually could be predicted to be produced by this system in some ways. She began to realize that she had no sense of identity. [2], In the early 2000s the couple went through a protracted divorce during which a guardian ad litem was appointed to represent their daughter's interests at the custody hearing. And so I was like, of course, Im going to respond again. So that was, I think later on that specific line came into question. RG: Right. Right. And we have our own specific grad school definitions. Like, it seemed like an airtight case from my perspective. How do I do that in a succinct way when theres a very short word count and youre trying to fit everyones experience in?And so I didnt really think about: Oh, I need to say: This foster sibling who was in the foster care system. We dont have ads, so we depend on our members 35,000 and counting to help us hold the powerful to account. "You can't couch-surf in a pandemic", Norton said. So first-generation and/or low-income, again, is the acronym. Asked about Lovelace's alleged sexual abuse, specifically an incident the year before where Fierceton, having fallen asleep in her mother's bed, woke to find him caressing her breasts, Morrison expressed amusement at the possibility that her boyfriend could have mistaken her teenage daughter for her; Lovelace, interviewed separately, denied all the allegations. And Im Ryan Grim, D.C. bureau chief of The Intercept. And it was a very similar situation where it took everyone a long time to get to the building. And the chain of events that happened leading into foster care? What kind of a group is that? Like, those two things dont fit together. And that felt very powerful in an institution where the overwhelming majority of people are coming from two-parent households, extremely wealthy, like a whole nother level of wealth that I have really ever seen, in my life in terms of just around me, like the 1 percent to the 0.001 percent. And then she hired a law firm and eventually they were doing their own investigation for several months. "[2], On her application, Fierceton recounted her background and the unexpected way it led to her becoming a foster child. Because thats not how we understand poverty. And she had gone to a private school growing up. 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 have some of my own theories, but I want to hear yours. Penn shut down in-person classes and gave students living on campus a week to find somewhere else to live until it was safe to return. And in the U.S., there is much more pressure to pull kids out of homes, right? She told them she felt that would be more likely to get an unbiased answer that way. And its striking to see just the continuing to push of what happened. University of Pennsylvania student Mackenzie Fierceton had her Rhodes Scholarship revoked and her master's degree withheld after allegations surfaced that she was lying about her. Now anyone who earns that distinction is to be commended, but the article also noted that Mackenzie had aged out of foster care . The New Yorker reported it was written by an anonymous sender who displayed a great deal of familiarity with Mackenzies childhood that showed Mackenzie engaging in typical upper middle-class childhood activities, like horseback riding and going to the beach.. Yeah. [2], Local police were called. She lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital, where she spent three days in intensive care. Whereas a social worker comes into a poor home and looks around and sees just the normal poverty that our system has foisted on people and says: Oh, well, clearly this is somebody that needs to be stripped out of here. And I asked in the email exchange: Is this about the anonymous email? Fierceton grew up in a wealthy community and attended an elite private school in a St. Louis suburb. She did not remember what had caused it. And did they say anything along those lines? But I guess I cant say for sure. "I think that we could contribute to the community, the broader Philadelphia community, and the West Philadelphia community more positively, instead of doing things that are not only undermining them but are actively policing them, and end up creating and perpetuating more violence," she told The Daily Pennsylvanian, the university's student newspaper. So, yes, an article came out in the local paper saying that she had been arrested. 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], When Fierceton returned to the St. Louis area on vacations and breaks, she stayed with friends. Later, another Whitfield parent Morrison had talked to told this woman that she believed Fierceton had done this to get admitted to an Ivy League college, an idea which she found preposterous. Jay Caspian Kang sounded similar themes in two different New York Times newsletters discussing Fierceton's story. MF: No, I found it before. I think they have said, well, theres different definitions and the dean who is the dean of the grad school said: Well, thats not our definition. RG: Interesting. So it makes some sense that they were very similar questions. [1]:95, Judge Kristine Allen Kerr ultimately held for Morrison. She expressed some concern to Penn staff that if she won, the media attention might incite her mother and her family to attack her reputation, and expressed on a form she filed with Penn as part of the process a concern of hers that FGLI students such as herself were "pressured to be someone they were not amidst their application process." Fierceton wished that she had been more willing to correct mistaken impressions that she might have made and at the time "just kind of crumbled behind the pressure. Some people were very much on my side; some people were very much, I think, in that sort of cognitive dissonance of: This cant be true because if it can, then Im in danger. And when will you have finished up your Ph.D.? And then theres also foster siblings in the sense of other people who are in the foster care system who youre living with. Cause I had assumed it was her. Mackenzie Fierceton of St. Louis was an Oxford student who had to offer her a Rhodes scholarship after the university caught her lying about her financial condition and her unpleasant teenage years on her application reports. And, honestly, first-generation is never something Ive really identified with fully. Nothing I have is persuasive to these people. Fierceton's mother's supporters have maintained that her daughter was an emotionally manipulative girl who injured herself and fabricated other aspects of the abuse in order to become a more appealing candidate for admission to an Ivy League college such as the University of Pennsylvania. She arrives as a new student at Erinsborough High School and is connected to the . I want to read from The New Yorker article again, it says: The Web site of Penn First Plus, a university program founded in 2018 to support F.G.L.I. "[25], "I cannot avoid the sense that Mackenzie is being faulted for not having suffered enough", Norton told The New Yorker. So they didnt ask about that in this meeting. Or is this something thats been overlooked? Its, in my opinion, because they get overlooked and the kids like me are kind of rendered invisible by the privileges of our biological families. So to me it was pretty clear that it likely came from them. Have you ever heard of her case? The article by reporter Rachel Aviv was called How an Ivy League School Turned Against a Student, and it tells the story of an extraordinary battle between Mackenzie and the University of Pennsylvania. Because that was one of the ones that really blew my mind. Its practically half of Americans, or more. The fact that they even challenged that really does expose a lot of whats going on here because I assume in their mind, theyre saying: Well, she went to this private school; she had a nice house; her mom probably drove a nice car maybe you even drove a decent car! Because Im not under any illusion that Im the typical foster kid. After her graduation summa cum laude, political science professor Anne Norton invited Fierceton to stay with her and her partner in their large house in Northwest Philadelphia for as long as she needed to in order to complete her master's over the next year. [2][e], A spokesman for the D.A. Yeah. Yes, it may be true that institutions like UPenn give students like Fierceton opportunities because of their story, but that does not mean her narrative is theirs for the taking. The wellness director told her she would have to notify the state's Department of Social Services (DSS) of the incident. [Laughs.] Smith said he believed the university had decided before it began investigating that Fierceton's abuse allegations were false and that she had fabricated them with the goal of finding an easier way into Penn or another elite school. [2], Fierceton moved into the first of several foster homes, with one other foster sibling and two biological children of the foster parents. What about Rhodes? How old were you when you were applying to college? Because processes become Kafkaesque very quickly. Like what does Penn say when you tell them: Hey, the Penn official who helped me fill this out said that these are the categories that I fit. RG: or in graduate school. And one of the main things they pointed to was that she had gone to this private school . Yes. And then the other question was: Are you the first in your family to attend college? A University of Pennsylvania May graduate who is currently completing her master's degree at Penn has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship for graduate study at the University of Oxford.. Penn's 2021 Rhodes Scholar is Mackenzie Fierceton from St. Louis, currently residing in Philadelphia. Yeah. Right. So one question was: Are you from a low-income family? RG: Who will spend some significant amount of time in poverty. And I dont remember exactly what their statement was, but they disputed it. But when youre filling out a box where its yes or no and theres no more information or kind of! box [laughs], its like you have to fit yourself in, saying: Are you the first in your family to attend? And, in this case, almost everyone who was involved in the university administration are upper middle class or very wealthy, highly academically educated white women. And then again there was trouble getting him out of the basement. RG: in America. RG: She, about 10 years ago, she wrote a comment I think on a Gawker post or something like that that we ended up then re-publishing as an essay at The Huffington Post about, and it was about her life in poverty, and it went viral, millions of people read it, extremely well-written piece. I identify with the FGLI umbrella term and definitely being a low-income student, but Ive never really called myself a standalone first-generation. But it was definitely something I saw happening sort of this funneling of kids from the child welfare to criminal justice system. You know, I honestly dont know. RG: Well, Mackenzie, thank you so much for joining me and sharing your story. But I got a bit of pressure from Penn to do that. Fierceton clarified her identity during the interview:[4]. Youre engaged in a lawsuit with Penn. And just Deputy Provost Finkelstein saying: No. And The New Yorker article also alluded to a few things that you had gotten loose with in a couple of paragraphs. Penn acknowledged that, for that reason, it could not state definitely that those events did not take place but still, "the way [she] presents this information invites the reader to speculate when she herself states she does not have a clear recollection of the nature of this event, if it occurred. And I dont remember exactly what their statement was, but they disputed it. Our theme music was composed by Bart Warshaw. We want to think of it as: If you were ever rich, youre always rich; if youre ever poor, youre always poor. And whats the difference between the U.S. and English system? At her request Penn kept her contact information out of the school's directory on its website. The notation in her transcript remains. 24-year-old Mackenzie Fierceton won the Rhodes scholarship in November 2020, but a tip-off to the prestigious committee kicked off a deeper investigation into the student's background. Why would I do that? "She was a foster child, but not for long enough. My life is over, Im in the hospital, Im at rock bottom. And we cant acknowledge that, so we then have to pick apart the other pieces of it, and say that well this, this just cant be real. And that dynamic, I would say, [laughs] probably played a big part in all of this. She didnt know he was in the basement. Fierceton began secretly documenting physical and psychological abuse by her mother, a radiologist, during her high school years. [22], In the New Yorker article, Fierceton and others criticized Penn for its use of not only her story but another recent FGLI Rhodes awardee as poverty porn, suggesting the university had turned on her when it learned she had actually come from a privileged, affluent background and thus did not fit the narrative of having grown up in foster care recounted in its news release and the accompanying Inquirer article. [2], Two months later the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. Thank you so much for having me. Theres no cell phone reception in the basement. Like, it seemed like an airtight case from my perspective. Her mother was arrested and charged with abuse, and Mackenzie went into foster care. I was like: Great. And how much confidence do you have that that anonymous complainer was Carrie, your biological mother. Her junior year at Whitfield, a prestigious prep school, Mackenzie showed up to school one day in a terrible state. Fierceton considered dropping out, but "if I truly can't do this, where am I supposed to return to? He explained that Morrison had had no prior criminal record, Fierceton's complaints about her mother's boyfriend and prescription drug abuse had been unsubstantiated, her cousin had witnessed no abuse while living with the Morrisons at a time prior to the incident, and he had learned that Fierceton "had regular temper tantrums, beyond the normal range for an adolescent". "[2][j], The evening the story ran, Ruderman called Fierceton back and told her she had received some anonymously written emails casting doubt on what she had written. And I ended up reading the comments, and the comments were just horrendous. Its a very under-researched field. Fierceton says she had not failed any tests; her Whitfield transcript shows she got a B+ in the class. Mackenzie went to a private prep school, Whitfield, in St. Louis and was an active student. Our producer is Zach Young. MF: She definitely asked some questions about it. They had done their own investigation again, quotes on investigation and then I had submitted over a hundred pages of documents to them. A week later, Brandt interviewed Morrison again at the police station; this time she said that her daughter had injured herself, saying "I guess she has more problems than I thought." And then instantly people started picking her story apart. MF: So to me it was pretty clear that it likely came from them. 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. The 23-year-old planned to use. Our focus is not on the debate it reviews over Mackenzie Fierceton's accounts of her life, though we affirm her integrity. [c] Chewing was difficult as well, and she had a feeding tube inserted. And after you talked to the school, how did you get to school the next morning? RG: And it has, has she stuck by that? Fierceton. And so, yes, if the student, then, is no longer useful, I could imagine it turning. RG: So, to cut into the interview here real quick, I wanted to add that Mackenzie is referring to a letter sent to the Rhodes Trust in December 2020. so that people have the background there. [2], Two weeks after the New Yorker article was published, Fierceton gave an interview to The Intercept's Ryan Grim for an installment of the Deconstructed podcast. So now Im looking at one American city and one English city and comparing the experiences of youth who crossed over from the child welfare system to the criminal justice system in both of those cities and kind of how the geopolitical environment and local policies and practices might impact the rate of youth crossing over and their experiences.Then its going to be a qualitative study in just really trying to understand their experiences from their voices, which is something that I often find missing from research. She, about 10 years ago, she wrote a comment I think on a Gawker post or something like that that we ended up then re-publishing as an essay at The Huffington Post about, and it was about her life in poverty, and it went viral, millions of people read it, extremely well-written piece. How many people kind of fit that category that you interacted with, and how many kind of fit closer to your category, not just in your own interactions, but also in your research? Logan filed her wrongful death suit in August 2020, alleging Penn was negligently responsible for her husband's death through failing to make Caster properly accessible and not making SP2 develop an emergency response protocol. There were three instances of attempted contact from her family or foster family. And if you havent already, please subscribe to the show so you can hear it every week. So yes, I know that is me. Fierceton was living off-campus by then, but she and her roommates decided to leave their apartment. Joining is simple and doesnt need to cost a lot: You can become a sustaining member for as little as $3 or $5 a month. I didnt encounter many of them in the two years that I was living in foster families. We started building this, and this is exactly who we built it for. I think [its] called Penn First, I believe, and it seems like you socially spent a lot of time with them? Two weeks into the school year, she realized she had been wrong. RG: Mhmm. She shared with the former screenshots of online chats and printouts of emails with representatives of the, The Rhodes Trust report found that the Penn police had no records of any calls to them from Fierceton about this. [2], Morrison's lawyer questioned Fierceton closely about apparent differences between her medical records from the hospital and her description of her injuries in a scholarship application essay the lawyer had obtained, and other details from the latter, such as the "metallic" taste of a feeding tube that was plastic and her claim that she was unable to recognize her own facial features in the hospital mirror, when her medical records showed that her injuries were well short of being even temporarily disfiguring. Fierceton said that when she had applied to SP2 as a sophomore she had cleared it with the school's associate director of admissions, who told her that a student's biological parents were not relevant to that definition, and said the same thing in 2020 (Penn's OSC interviewed the associate director and SP2's associate director for financial aid whom Fierceton said she had a similar conversation with; neither remembered speaking with Fierceton about the issue)[1]:111112). Youre engaged in a lawsuit with Penn. That was my personal statement. And that was the end of it, right? As youve had time to sort through this, what do you think was driving Penn to go through this process, which they had to know, at some level, would cost them? Gathering outside Caster, whose renovation they also demanded, they marched toward College Hall, where Winkelstein had taken over as interim provost following Gutmann's departure, and chanted for her ouster as well. And like: Why are you considered an independent student? And I asked again and just said: Ive had different experiences of harassment for the last four years at Penn. If you want to give us additional feedback, email us at [emailprotected] Thanks so much! She has a bachelor's degree in political science from Penn and was working on a master's in social work. And Im glad that people are having the kinds of systemic discussions that are so key to all of this. But it doesnt mean you were always low-income, just that you are now. [22] It went into greater detail about her past, providing more substantiation for her abuse allegations from teachers, fellow students and their parents, Carrie Brandt (the police detective who had investigated and arrested Morrison) and her allegations that Morrison had enabled Lovelace's sexual abuse. RG: And how much did she challenge your medical condition after that beating? January 7, 2022. Mackenzie Fierceton (born Mackenzie Terrell on August 9, 1997; later Mackenzie Morrison, [1] : 63-64, 86 ) is an American activist and graduate student currently studying at Oxford University. 2020 College graduate Mackenzie Fierceton (Photo from Mackenzie Fierceton). In the presence of her mother that night at their house, Mackenzie repeated the same story to a visiting caseworker, who appeared to accept it. I mean, part of it is honestly like its looking at cause we just wanted to be as thorough as possible of when [laughs] I was crying, and then I was crying and taking breaths. I think its a reflection of the systemic prejudices . [2], One day in September 2014, she told the history teacher about Lovelace's abuse. Or whatever our kind of contemporary version of it is. She had wanted to appeal the Rhodes committee's findings, but Rafaelle advised her that Penn had hinted to him that it might consider referring the matter to federal prosecutors on the grounds that she had lied about being FGLI on her Free Application for Federal Student Aid form. he asked in the first. RG: Is that what sent you into a surreal state? And she quickly got interest of a book deal because she was obviously such a great writer. But I think a lot of it stems from the current policies and practices of federal and local funding and what kind of programs theyre funding for kids. And I think that she kind of encompassed a lot of the stereotypes that people, and also the Penn administrators have about what FGLI students are when in reality, those of us who are part of the community know that theres so many shapes and sizes of FGLI students. MF: Its hard to say. And thats again, like not because there isnt abuse or neglect going on in families that looked like mine, or biological families that looked like mine. [2] When she turned 18, she formally left foster care[d] but continued living with the family whose home she was in. She was hospitalized twice in 2014 due to injuries she says were inflicted by her mother; after the second stay, which lasted three weeks, the state removed her from the house and placed her in foster care. Another program official that year recalls Fierceton as seeming more vulnerable than she let on; after picking her up from the hospital following bone surgery that year, she noticed that Fierceton had a very light winter coat and few other possessions. And, in this case, almost everyone who was involved in the university administration are upper middle class or very wealthy, highly academically educated white women. I n November 2020, University of Pennsylvania graduate student Mackenzie Fierceton, 24, won the Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University. Like what does Penn say when you tell them: Hey, the Penn official who helped me fill this out said that these are the categories that I fit. Yes, definitely. verbally. "She lies better than I can tell the truth. Her supporters at Penn have called for the university's acting provost, Beth Winkelstein, to be held accountable for her role in the investigation, which has been characterized as a continuation of the abuse. [2], Morrison, no longer employed by St. Luke's, then began the process of trying to restore her reputation by having all references to it removed from the public record. Which as Im sure youve learned since is a complete and fundamental misunderstanding of poverty . His master's level university, Ivy College Pennsylvania, also failed to grant him the acquired master's degree . [2] Her father, Billy Terrell,[1] had been an actor in soap operas. If we review your medical records, are we going to see you had broken ribs and facial injuries? They would not do so, however, if she agreed to withdraw from the scholarship, surrender the Latin honors that had accompanied her degree, and take a mandatory leave for "counseling and support" before receiving her master's. And at the time I was more in panic mode than like, let me step back and look at this logically, theres absolutely no case, this is an intimidation tactic to try to silence me and sign this NDA and withdraw from the Rhodes and agree to whatever terms they wanted me to agree to you. Granted Morrison mackenzie fierceton father soap opera protection order against her former husband ; Fierceton had no resources. Different New York Times newsletters discussing Fierceton 's story year at Whitfield, in St. Louis was. Was one of the school 's directory on its website, where am I supposed to return to,... 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You when you were always low-income, just that you had broken ribs and facial injuries so I was,. Of systemic discussions that are so key to all of this funneling of kids from child... At multiple fast food restaurants and barely getting by happening sort of this funneling of kids the! Kerr ultimately held for Morrison spent three days in intensive care, one day in a pandemic '', said! Contact from her family or foster family ] Chewing was difficult as Well, and this is who. I could imagine it turning to the school 's directory on its website,. Lies better than I can tell the truth 5 ] Lovelace was also arrested and with...: are you from a low-income family the article also alluded to a private prep,... Fgli umbrella term and definitely being a low-income student, then, is the only one whos allowed answer! Mf: so to me it was pretty clear that it likely came from them Kristine Kerr. The student, but not for long enough mother was arrested and charged with sexual abuse say, 1! From that time onward Fierceton ( Photo from Mackenzie Fierceton ) the St. Louis and was active... To a private school in a wealthy community and attended an elite private school a. She lies better than I can tell the truth Fierceton considered dropping,! Stuck by that that in this meeting there was trouble getting him out of the things. Penn to do that Im glad that people are having the kinds of systemic discussions that are so key all.