[2] Katie Couric had Fierceton as a guest on her podcast a week later. There were definitely, Im sure. 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 those other people are kind of like the orphans that we think of in Dickensian novels. 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 youre getting instruction from a university official that thats how youre supposed to fill it out, thats what the definition says online. You had mentioned that you actually made a transcript of your interview with Deputy Provost Finkelstein shortly after the conversation. And it was a very similar situation where it took everyone a long time to get to the building. RG: And it has, has she stuck by that? Fierceton responded that that showed the university's "vulnerability and desperation". Fine. he asked in the first. Both reports refrained from expressing an opinion about the truth of her abuse allegations. Mackenzie Morrison was born Mackenzie Terrell but took her mother's name after her father, Billy Terrell, who worked in soap operas, left. 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 eventually they filed a big wrongful death lawsuit in August 2020. And theres also literature thats economic literature versus sociology, different fields have different perspectives on what that relationship between foster care and the criminal justice system is and what the causes are. Like you said, I was called into a meeting. Enough bruises? So I was like: OK, fine. So I could imagine why at some point youd be like, you know what, Im just not going to keep taking Ls here. 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. MF: So those questions really came later. And we have our own specific grad school definitions. And its striking to see just the continuing to push of what happened. Our greatest desire is that Mackenzie chooses to live a happy, healthy, honest, and productive life, using her extraordinary gifts for the highest good." She added the additional detail that at the time of her first hospitalization, Fierceton had just failed her first AP Chemistry test. Period." And that was the end of it, right? 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. And eventually they filed a big wrongful death lawsuit in August 2020. And did they say anything along those lines? ")[3], The OSC report also concluded that nothing in her academic record warranted the revocation of either degree. I cant remember if it was in the Rhodes essay or in another essay that, in hindsight, you wouldve tightened up. But there was another definition that was also along those lines that I fit, that was, again, public on the website. MF: At first there was actually, there was contention. And so where is your story now? 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". Thats all it takes to support the journalism you rely on. 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. RG: Well, Mackenzie, thank you so much for joining me and sharing your story. @RachelAviv for @NewYorker "I had so much anger and grief, and I didn't want them to be affiliated in any way with this new life I was building. [5] She posted it before Fierceton's release from the hospital, and once free began calling Fierceton's friends and former teachers, telling them that Fierceton was having issues and had made it appear Morrison had beaten her. . [f] Fierceton felt no ambivalence about her answer. Its practically half of Americans, or more. Youre engaged in a lawsuit with Penn. I wasnt there for all of this, but after I went through all these interviews, that was my conclusion. By those standards, the standards of real family, not one person I'm related to by blood meets those requirements or even comes close." [2], The next morning, when Fierceton awoke, Morrison told her she was taking her car keys and telling the school she was sick. 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. 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. And you experienced that yourself, right? Right. Which as Im sure youve learned since is a complete and fundamental misunderstanding of poverty . She felt as if it might have been an attempt to intimidate her. RG: Like questioning: How much blood? . Interesting. Mackenzie Fierceton was deposed after seeking justice for a mature student, Cameron Driver, 38. And then theres the part that felt like: I have no idea whats going to convince these people if I gave them medical records, I gave them forensic photos of me taken in the hospital, I gave them again like corroboration from professors of like how I described myself, from leaders in the FIGLY community. And Im curious where you would pinpoint it, but I would guess that its The Philadelphia Inquirer story that started with an incorrect lead that said: Mackenzie Fierston grew up poor, something very close to that? 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. Who will spend some significant amount of time in poverty. Given the pandemic, Rhodes Scholar judges interviewed candidates over Zoom. We dont believe you. Nothing I have is persuasive to these people. At first she explained Fierceton's injuries as either having been caused by an intruder or somehow self-inflicted, then said her daughter had fallen downstairs while she was trying to help her get some chewing gum out of her hair. And that is part of what felt like it gave me such a home, is because we had these sort of underlying shared experiences, but all came from different backgrounds to an extent, and all still supported and accepted one another. Mackenzie Fierceton has lost her Rhodes Scholarship and her University of Pennsylvania master's degree is being held after an anonymous tipster called out alleged inaccuracies in her school and scholarship applications.NY Post photo composite 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. MF: Yeah. Then the University of Pennsylvania accused her of. If you want to give us additional feedback, email us at. And to me, Im like I am a household of one, so I am the only person in my family. RG: Penn didnt respond to a request for comment, but in its response to Mackenzies lawsuit, they write: Penn denies that there are accessibility problems with the Caster Building which contributed to Mackenzies medical emergency or to [Cameron] Drivers death. Like, I dont have the precise statistics in front of me, but if you asked people to guess at the number of people who will experience, say, two years of poverty in their life, people will miss it by magnitudes. Like, those two things dont fit together. The university, in its response to Mackenzies lawsuit, referred to Mackenzies mother as an accomplished physician and claimed that a court had found her allegations not to be credible. 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. And then the focus shifted to the second box. You know, I honestly dont know. And Penn is still claiming that those are fake journals. RG: And one of the main things they pointed to was that she had gone to this private school . And I ended up reading the comments, and the comments were just horrendous. 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? Penn officials, of course, have said the interview was appropriate. And that dynamic, I would say, [laughs] probably played a big part in all of this. "[2], Fierceton answered yes. Why would I do that? And how much confidence do you have that that anonymous complainer was Carrie, your biological mother. Mackenzie Fierceton is the child of a doctor who attended a private prep school in a wealthy suburb. [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. Picture: University of Pennsylvania/Instagram. She bounced from one foster home to the next. Thank you so much for having me. [2], Over the middle of 2020, Fierceton became active in the Black Lives Matter protests at Penn. Like, it seemed like an airtight case from my perspective. Morrison had told the admitting physician that she had not been present when her daughter was hurt but believed she had fallen down the stairs in the house, which the hospital accepted as the likely cause, even though her fearfulness was also noted. Her junior year at Whitfield, a prestigious prep school, Mackenzie showed up to school one day in a terrible state. A cousin who lived with the Morrisons for a while did not see any signs of abuse and believed it was possible Fierceton could have inflicted the injuries herself. It, too, alleged that Fierceton was misrepresenting herself as having been poor and grown up entirely in foster care, with many photos of Fierceton as a little girl on the beach and riding horses, and other activities usually associated with affluence. MF: Yeah. And so I did definitely have that kind of like: I have no idea what else is going to convince these people. RG: And because you were not just low-income, actually no income, other than the jobs that you were working nobody has complained about the low-income one, right? In the lawsuit filed on Dec. 21, Fierceton, a 2021 School of Social Policy . I think youre right. Mackenzie Fierceton has lost her Rhodes Scholarship and her University of Pennsylvania master's degree is being held after an anonymous tipster called out alleged inaccuracies in her school. Because that was one of the ones that really blew my mind. In 2020, former foster child Mackenzie Fierceton received a Rhodes Scholarship as a self-identified first generation, low income student at the University of Pennsylvania. And they released this quote-unquote report in April of 2021 with their findings. They didnt respond, though Mackenzies biological mother has denied the allegations of abuse. 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. And it has, has she stuck by that? And how much did she challenge your medical condition after that beating? So first-generation and/or low-income, again, is the acronym. Why were you in the hospital that long? We started building this, and this is exactly who we built it for. And where are you at school? And thats an unfortunate reality so many survivors experience, not having a lot of documentation. Thank you so much for having me. So those questions really came later. And then she hired a law firm and eventually they were doing their own investigation for several months. 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. Did she lie? Yeah. And what area of it are you going to explore with your Ph.D.? It quotes her as saying "If you find me dead, it was my mom. I think this is a conversation not necessarily for people who are still in question about what happened here. [3], Through her attorney, Morrison gave a statement, her only one so far, on the case: "Mackenzie is deeply loved by her mom and family. [1]:111112, Penn's investigators asked Fierceton why she had pretended to be asking on another's behalf when she made her queries within the university. [2], Brandt noted that Morrison never asked about, or expressed concern for, her daughter's well-being. "[25], "I cannot avoid the sense that Mackenzie is being faulted for not having suffered enough", Norton told The New Yorker. Fierceton says she had not failed any tests; her Whitfield transcript shows she got a B+ in the class. 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. But the acclaim quickly devolved into acrimony as the university and the Rhodes Trust began questioning aspects of Fiercetons backstory. She arrives as a new student at Erinsborough High School and is connected to the . But those definitions arent anywhere to be found. And especially, again, like these stereotypes of black and brown, low-income families, the knee-jerk reaction is like: Oh, well, theyre unequipped to be a parent. She also called herself a first-generation low-income student. Because thats not how we understand poverty. I tried to help as much as I could. And I dont remember exactly what their statement was, but they disputed it. Deconstructed[emailprotected]theintercept.com, Photo illustration: Soohee Cho for The Intercept; Getty Images, AP, This weeks guest on Deconstructed is Mackenzie Fierceton, who was the subject of, The Philadelphia Inquirer erroneously wrote that she had grown up poor. I really appreciate it. 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. 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. Fierceton is the 31st Penn student to be chosen as a Rhodes Scholar since the distinguished program's start in 1902. Again, this is obviously secondhand, because I was unconscious. [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. So one of the questions that you mentioned that they asked was about your essay , which, correct me if Im wrong, but I think it begins saying something along the lines of: Youre in the hospital, you looked in the mirror, and you couldnt recognize yourself, you couldnt recognize your features. And the chain of events that happened leading into foster care? So therefore that doesnt fit their understanding of low-income, despite the fact that your mother was no longer your legal guardian, youre a ward of the state. I took photos of the building and sent it to them, and I was connecting them with different people who were in my class, who were in his class. She kept a journal, writing that she was in so much pain from her bruised ribs that she could barely breathe. Uh, my lawyer. And at the time I was like: Why what? So, I myself, had a seizure in the basement of my grad school in January, 2020, and it took over an hour to get me out of the basement because they couldnt fit a stretcher or a backboard down the stairs or the elevator. 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. I n November 2020, University of Pennsylvania graduate student Mackenzie Fierceton, 24, won the Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University. Mackenzie is the soap's first transgender character, added to the series after Stone wrote to executive producer Jason Herbison to pitch the character. RG: Mhmm. 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. Cause then you cant think that it could be you. Mhmm. A picture of her was posted at the nurse's station should she make the attempt. I tried to help as much as I could. [2], To White, Morrison repeated her story that her daughter had fabricated the abuse allegations. 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. Mackenzie went to a private prep school, Whitfield, in St. Louis and was an active student. The reporter had assumed based on her status as a FGLI student which stands for first-generation, low-income that she had been poor her entire life. Mackenzie Fierceton was named Penn's 2021 Rhodes Scholar. RG: Or whatever our kind of contemporary version of it is. RG: And how much did she challenge your medical condition after that beating? [c] Chewing was difficult as well, and she had a feeding tube inserted. Its a very under-researched field. Absolutely. Like some students do have a story, more like me where they had some kind of separation from their family; other students their parents were doctors or lawyers or Ph.D. students in other countries, but then they came here and their degrees no longer, essentially, counted or people who are just first-generation and not necessarily low-income or people who are low-income, but not first-generation. And so, just the immediate reaction was like: Theres no way. 2020 College graduate Mackenzie Fierceton (Photo from Mackenzie Fierceton). "[2], That feeling was not mutual, Fierceton came to suspect. "How much does one have to suffer to have value? And if you havent already, please subscribe to the show so you can hear it every week. Or do you think that the wheels were already in motion before that? [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. 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. And that was the end of it, right? 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. And I was actually really nervous about doing any press for this reason. And I was the one who uncovered my classmates death. Were close to done. The Intercept is an independent nonprofit news outlet. In the transcript, I wrote it was really just focused on: What happened the night you went into foster care? So, yes, an article came out in the local paper saying that she had been arrested. Fierceton earned her bachelor's degree in political science from the College of Arts & Sciences and is . [2] The psychologist testified that she had seen both mother and daughter during 2007 and 2008. RG: And what was the first-generation community like on campus? 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. And then to be so unanimously disbelieved and, at that point, this article was like a paragraph and a half. The 23-year-old planned to use. 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. Concluded that nothing in her academic record warranted the revocation of either degree question about what happened the night went.: I have no idea what else is going to convince these people like paragraph. The conversation biological mother has denied the allegations of abuse both reports refrained expressing! 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