Uh, my lawyer. And after you talked to the school, how did you get to school the next morning? And they were the ones I believe and this is public now because Penn attached it to their response to the lawsuit I filed and I believe they were the first ones to mention that I had gone to private school and that they were questioning if I was low-income. And that dynamic, I would say, [laughs] probably played a big part in all of this. There were definitely, Im sure. 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. RG: And how much did she challenge your medical condition after that beating? 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. Yeah. But I also think it has something to do with the way that we understand poverty. "[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. Are we going to see these injuries? [2], At the end of 2013, in the middle of her sophomore year, Fierceton was admitted to St. Luke's, where her mother worked, with a head injury. [2], Fierceton shared the information she had with Logan, who in turn took it to a law firm that investigated further. What about Rhodes? Who would hold party elites accountable to the values they proclaim to have? A former teacher in elementary school recalled that in one of those calls, Morrison made a reference to an earlier discussion of Fierceton's mental illness; the teacher did not remember any such conversation. She and a separate witness said records of child-welfare agencies from years earlier are not easy to obtain. I cant remember if it was in the Rhodes essay or in another essay that, in hindsight, you wouldve tightened up. [2][4][15], After learning this, Fierceton and a fellow SP2 student began doing research. "They are the people that support you, look out for you, & love you unconditionally. But it doesnt mean you were always low-income, just that you are now. (Photo from Mackenzie Fierceton) Penn student Mackenzie Fierceton was selected as one of 32 American recipients of the 2021 Rhodes Scholarship, becoming Penn's 31st Rhodes scholar since the scholarship's inception in 1902.. Fierceton, a 2020 College graduate, is currently working on her . I do think that it is a huge defense mechanism that people deploy. 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. She was then admitted to Penn on a full scholarship, where she identified as a first-generation low-income (FGLI) student despite her background due to her estrangement from her parents and lack of financial support from them, a classification she says Penn officials told her was acceptable in those circumstances. And I dont remember exactly what their statement was, but they disputed it. [2], Local police were called. "She was falling apart under the academic stresses at school and was exhausted, and I believe looking for an out." In The New Yorker article, one teacher had written: She showed up at my classroom door with a bloodied and battered face and then fainted., RG: And then, Rachel Aviv, the reporter also quotes Sherry McClain, who was a nurse who was assigned to you, she said: She had two black eyes, and her hair was full of blood. RG: That they would forward charges to the federal government of wire fraud. 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. She began to realize that she had no sense of identity. Mackenzie Fierceton is the child of a doctor who attended a private prep school in a wealthy suburb. The university's police did not know at first where the building was and the city's paramedics did not know how to get to it. And please go and leave us a rating or a review it helps people find the show. And I think psychologically one way people feel safer about it is to say: No, that happens to other people. They had done their own investigation again, quotes on investigation and then I had submitted over a hundred pages of documents to them. 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. And I told them I only have a half-hour, because Im working, Im in class, and were going to go through all of this. And she ended up responding right away, and asked to get on a phone call. Its practically half of Americans, or more. And many more vicious sentiments. [2], Some of those Morrison talked with did believe her; a classmate of Fierceton's recalled people likening her to the protagonist of the film Gone Girl, about a Missouri woman who disappears in order to avenge herself on an adulterous husband, whom she makes it appear killed her. I was in this private school with a lot of upper-middle class or wealthy white students. Im curious, having dealt with so many people along the way, who are questioning your story, how do you feel like the boxes play into this? MF: So thats the background of him. And what was the first-generation community like on campus? RG: First of all, thats one box? Its virtually almost an unknown phenomena or to people who are working in the field, its certainly known, but theres been very little research on it, which partially complicates my Ph.D., because theres so little to draw upon. [2], For her senior year, Whitfield gave Fierceton a full scholarship. Or do you think that the wheels were already in motion before that? And I ultimately didnt end up responding because I got a serious threats from Penn that if I didnt withdraw that they were going to come after my undergrad degree, and launch proceedings to revoke my undergrad degree, and never give me my M.S.W which I was supposed to graduate with in May 2021, I have not yet received that diploma if I didnt withdraw from the Rhodes and sign an NDA. RG: Like, those two things dont fit together. [2][h], In January 2020[4] Fierceton had a seizure and collapsed during a class for one of her graduate social work courses. Mhmm. MF: Yeah. But it did open with these literary elements of what I was feeling like, and the experience I was having in those moments. Why would I do that? And then it just launched into the first half being a line-by-line it felt like interrogation of my applications. And it became pretty clear to me that there had been a very similar delay in his care, but even worse dynamics. And again, people, including Penn administrators, have the perception of I think the stereotype and my friend Anea Moore, whos a Rhodes Scholar and graduate of Penn who founded Penn first or co-founded it had a really great quote in The New Yorker about we arent all, quote-unquote something along the lines of like impoverished, inner city kids who go to crumbling public schools as the wider media portrays us to be. 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. The Inquirer story came out in November 2020. It didnt, though, to the University of Pennsylvania. And back in high school, it was a similar thing. [i] Ruderman corroborated that later to The New Yorker, saying she was paraphrasing Fierceton's self-identification as FGLI. In the transcript, I wrote it was really just focused on: What happened the night you went into foster care? Youre welcome to talk to Penn Police or their Division of Special Services or the Womens Center, or any program that Ive been involved in, or people that have been involved in supporting me who can corroborate this. woman who won a coveted scholarship in the US to study at Oxford after claiming she was poor, overcame childhood abuse and grew up in foster care lost the opportunity after it emerged she was. RG: And so if its a well-educated white girl from a private school, thats way too close to home for a lot of these elites. [2] She was also working two jobs, as a policy fellow with Philadelphia City Council and another interning in social work at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. And is it somewhat of a defense mechanism that people deploy to protect themselves? [24], In a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian, the university said the New Yorker article "did not accurately reflect" the university's investigation of the issues raised by the Rhodes Trust. Anything interesting in that that you noticed? "We would never have believed any of it if we weren't living it." In addition to reiterating many of the themes of comments made by her and her supporters in the previous articles, including criticism of the Rhodes and Penn investigations (the former of which Grim noted she was putting air quotes around when she mentioned it), she expressed a belief that her story had triggered a defensive anxiety in women like Finkelstein and White:[4]. 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. In early 2022, after stories about her struggle with Penn and the Rhodes Trust received national attention from stories in The Chronicle of Higher Education and The New Yorker, commentators took the university, and American elite higher education in general, to task for its use of the story of Fierceton and some other recent Rhodes recipients as poverty porn and its shifting definition of an FGLI student. 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. Again following the advice of her college counselor, she did not identify her parents on her application, since she was estranged from both of them (she describes them both as "biological"[3][2]). At her request Penn kept her contact information out of the school's directory on its website. Who are your biological family? Cause then you cant think that it could be you. 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! Fierceton grew up in a wealthy community and attended an elite private school in a St. Louis suburb. as a kid. And its no offense its not like the most profound . 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. To me, it seems like any reader of the English language would read that in a literary sense , RG: of its self-exploration, self-doubt, trauma. How much research has been done on the foster-care-to-prison-pipeline? And theyll openly talk about this. And, honestly, first-generation is never something Ive really identified with fully. [3], Before that happened, Fierceton withdrew from the scholarship on her own. And thats an unfortunate reality so many survivors experience, not having a lot of documentation. In retrospect, I just honestly wish I had never written about those people, but it was kind of one of those things where I was like: OK, I need to make my point. Mackenzie Fierceton, 24, claimed she was from a poor background and grew up in foster care when she actually attended private school By Phoebe Southworth 13 January 2022 8:00pm Mackenzie. I think its a reflection of the systemic prejudices . And Im glad that people are having the kinds of systemic discussions that are so key to all of this. [1]:111112, In her Intercept interview, Grim recounts how this was reported in The New Yorker and asks "So how is a person who is filling out this application supposed to know what definition youre supposed to use?" She had seen no signs of abuse in the relationship and considered Fierceton to be the dominant personality in it. And so can you talk a little bit about your research? Mackenzie Fierceton was championed as a former foster youth who had overcome an abusive childhood and won a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. Her junior year at Whitfield, a prestigious prep school, Mackenzie showed up to school one day in a terrible state. And so they had to see some benefit to them in doing this. And theyll openly talk about this. [2][3], Fierceton had initially expected it would be easier for her to transition to college life than it was for other students, since she was not leaving a family behind at home. But they just assumed theres no way that it could have happened. Her history teacher described the incident this way: She showed up at my classroom door with a bloodied and battered face and then fainted., Mackenzie was hospitalized. And MacKenzie is the only one whos allowed to answer these questions. Like, those two things dont fit together. And I just want to read this for people. [Laughs.]. And I turned over all this information to his widow. Then, the first-generation box. She applied to a program at Penn's School of Social Policy and Practice (commonly referred to at Penn as SP2) that would allow her to begin graduate studies while still an undergraduate, so she could graduate with a master's degree in the field a year after completing her undergraduate degree. She arrives as a new student at Erinsborough High School and is connected to the . RG: And do you know Linda Tirado? [3], By the end of the interview Fierceton was crying. The mother hired a high-powered attorney and engaged in a local campaign to discredit Mackenzie. [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. And they released this quote-unquote report in April of 2021 with their findings. "While it is possible that [she] was the cause of the alleged injuries," she wrote a month afterward, "the court cannot make that finding by a preponderance of the evidence based on the evidence presented." [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. [2] The psychologist testified that she had seen both mother and daughter during 2007 and 2008. Penn, by questioning so much of Fierceton's story, was making itself "complicit in a long campaign of continuing abuse", she added. MF: No, I found it before. We dont believe you. And eventually they filed a big wrongful death lawsuit in August 2020. And I turned over all this information to his widow. So I could imagine why at some point youd be like, you know what, Im just not going to keep taking Ls here. Mackenzie Fierceton (born Mackenzie Terrell on August 9, 1997; later Mackenzie Morrison,[1]:6364,86) is an American activist and graduate student currently studying at Oxford University. [2] Afterwards Morrison changed her daughter's last name to her own. MF: Yeah. Raised in Chesterfield, Missouri, a West County suburb of St. Louis, she attended and graduated from the Whitfield School in Creve Coeur. But its relevant to financial aid and the student should check whatever box is going to give them most access to financial aid, which would be yes to both questions. It didnt, though, to the University of Pennsylvania. RG: Right. And just Deputy Provost Finkelstein saying: No. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Mackenzie Fierceton claimed that Penn officials targeted the grad student for retaliation after she became a key witness in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the university. Nor is she obligated to meet their expectations of her. Or is this something thats been overlooked? RG: Thats been my understanding of it. 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. [2], Morrison retained William Margulis, a former member of Whitfield's board who had sent four of his children there, including one of her daughter's classmates, as her attorney. But she says she occasionally received packages at her dorm room containing objects she suspected had come from her mother, such as a bracelet with an inscription about finding the truth, or others close to her, such as a pair of sneakers, which she believed Lovelace, who had sometimes helped her stretch before workouts, had sent. 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. Thats the reality of it, but we dont want to think of it that way. And I asked again and just said: Ive had different experiences of harassment for the last four years at Penn. Why would I do that? So, yes. Yeah. The university writes: After those who knew Fierceton raised questions about her story, it was investigated not just once, but several times, and not just by Penn faculty and staff, but also the Rhodes Trust. In The New Yorker article, one teacher had written: She showed up at my classroom door with a bloodied and battered face and then fainted., And then, Rachel Aviv, the reporter also quotes Sherry McClain, who was a nurse who was assigned to you, she said: She had two black eyes, and her hair was full of blood. And the theme of private school definitely came up many times over the course of the last year and a half. This was about a week after. Aviv tells the story of Mackenzie Fierceton, a former student at the University of Pennsylvania. So one question was: Are you from a low-income family? Morrison's name was therefore ordered removed from the DSS registry. 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? I didnt encounter many of them in the two years that I was living in foster families. I think they do have a richer experience if they have more diversity around them, but that is more the point. And I think its striking to read that back and just see how clearly distressed and distraught I was in continuing to push on that series of questions about a really traumatic experience. 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. Fierceton described herself as a first-generation college applicant who came from a low-income, foster-care background. And then as the different internships, and then I went to get my masters in social work and all of this happened, I started to see that continue in different capacities while I was in different roles, seeing that theme in this relationship between foster care and the criminal justice system. "[I]t was probably from someone in my biological family," she told The Intercept, "because it had photos of me; it had very specific information that very few people would haveand I don't think many people would have random childhood photos of me. I think this is a conversation not necessarily for people who are still in question about what happened here. I identify with the FGLI umbrella term and definitely being a low-income student, but Ive never really called myself a standalone first-generation. Mackenzie Morrison was born Mackenzie Terrell but took her mother's name after her father, Billy Terrell, who worked in soap operas, left. "[2], When Fierceton returned to the St. Louis area on vacations and breaks, she stayed with friends. You have a good education and youre clearly smart. "We have concluded that there is a basis for serious concern and that further investigation by the Rhodes Committee may be appropriate", she wrote. 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. And it became pretty clear to me that they had spoken to Carrie and or seen medical records. In other words, if you are parent who says that you are wishing your daughter well and youre telling the authorities that shes just mentally ill and its just a really, really sad and tragic case that shes making up all of these allegations of abuse and throwing herself down stairs, and beating herself up all for cries for help, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera you wouldnt then also pursue a multi-year long effort to destroy her life. Are we going to see these injuries? [2], Fierceton remained in the hospital, where DSS ordered her placed in protective custody. But I just had a bad feeling and I started to try to find more information. A picture of her was posted at the nurse's station should she make the attempt. Mackenzie is the soap's first transgender character, added to the series after Stone wrote to executive producer Jason Herbison to pitch the character. MF: Yeah. But that was definitely a driving force for why I decided, ultimately, to withdraw because I felt like: OK, federal prison is no joke. RG: Who will spend some significant amount of time in poverty. 2020 College graduate Mackenzie Fierceton (Photo from Mackenzie Fierceton). There were so many there are, I guess I should say so many moving pieces. 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. Did they make that threat in writing or was that . [2] Katie Couric had Fierceton as a guest on her podcast a week later. You didnt grow up in crumbling projects your entire life. 207 1,590 6,062 Show this thread Mackenzie Fierceton @MFierceton Aug 8 Will never not make my day to see this on the shelf. 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