And The New Yorker article also alluded to a few things that you had gotten loose with in a couple of paragraphs. I didnt really know what it was going to be, but I feel like its always good to have someone with you. She was one of only 32 high school students selected from a pool of 2300 applicants. We started building this, and this is exactly who we built it for. [3], After the interview White emailed Morrison about how it went; she wrote back regretting that Fierceton continued to tell the same story. 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. She was an independent student when she applied. But I also think it has something to do with the way that we understand poverty. Mackenzies critics even began nitpicking how much blood was in her hair while she was in the intensive care unit. So it makes some sense that they were very similar questions. But the outline of the story is this: Mackenzie was raised in a wealthy St. Louis suburb by a single mother who was repeatedly abusive, according to two state agencies. It was literally just like: She was arrested and her daughter is hospitalized. [Laughs.]. 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. MF: Yeah, so Penn First for the whole FGLI community. 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 you experienced that yourself, right? We dont believe you. And so I did definitely have that kind of like: I have no idea what else is going to convince these people. [2], Two months later the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. I tried to help as much as I could. MF: Yeah. [c] Chewing was difficult as well, and she had a feeding tube inserted. [2][4][15], After learning this, Fierceton and a fellow SP2 student began doing research. 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? And I think said something along the lines of there were things missing and it was distorted. 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. Have you ever heard of her case? "[2], That feeling was not mutual, Fierceton came to suspect. [2][k], While the trust had come to seriously doubt Fierceton's claims about the severity of her injuries, OSC declined to make a determination on that. Mackenzie Fierceton, a 2016 graduate of Whitfield School in Creve Coeur, lost the scholarship after allegations surfaced that she had provided "false narratives" to education officials, the New. She did not remember what had caused it. [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. MF: Yes, definitely. And those other people are kind of like the orphans that we think of in Dickensian novels. And I just want to read this for people. 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, in this case, almost everyone who was involved in the university administration are upper middle class or very wealthy, highly academically educated white women. RG: as a kid. Anything interesting in that that you noticed? Fellow students, their parents and Whitfield faculty also noticed signs which led them to suspect abuse. Whereas white parents, a lot of times, it is much harder the bar is much higher to remove them from their homes because their whiteness or possibly class privilege or whatever identities that they have that might not fit a social worker or judges or whoevers involved perception of whose kids should be in the foster system. Mackenzie told the police her mother had pushed her down the stairs and struck her in the face. They reported it to the state's child-abuse hotline. The prosecutor eventually dropped the charges and the arrest record was expunged. Picture: University of Pennsylvania/Instagram. I really appreciate it. Ultimately, she lost her Rhodes Scholarship, and Penn withheld her masters degree, demanding a letter of apology. on about your day, ask yourself: How likely is it that the story you just read would have been produced by a different news outlet if The Intercept hadnt done it? But that was definitely a driving force for why I decided, ultimately, to withdraw because I felt like: OK, federal prison is no joke. [2], Fierceton shared the information she had with Logan, who in turn took it to a law firm that investigated further. And, honestly, first-generation is never something Ive really identified with fully. So those questions really came later. But when you're filling out a box where it's "yes" or "no" and there's no more information or "kind of!" I was in this private school with a lot of upper-middle class or wealthy white students. Like, they want to curate a diverse experience for their well-off students, so that they can say that they had this diverse experience in college . 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. [4] It took nearly an hour, during which Fierceton seized intermittently and never completely regained consciousness, for her to be taken to the hospital. MF: Just a quick circling back, Im actually not sure if it was her who first reached out or if it was General Counsel Wendy White, because I later found out that they had a phone call about 36 hours after the article came out and seemed to talk pretty extensively, and then there were a lot of emails that happened. Cause I had assumed it was her. And thats actually one of the things that, if there was any doubt whatsoever about this story, in some ways it was settled by that. So I started while I was an undergrad and was taking classes at the same time. And is it somewhat of a defense mechanism that people deploy to protect themselves? 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 I think I just share that because I think its a powerful example of if that is as far as theyre going to go when theres literal documentation from child me and that accusing me of that being faked, I really am like: I dont know, short of a video montage of instances of abuse from 6 to 16, what would convince them. And I turned over all this information to his widow. But it doesnt mean you were always low-income, just that you are now. MF: 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. 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. Thank you so much for having me. [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. I had never heard of FGLI, but these labels resonated with a story I was still trying to process. 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! Two other women he was involved with had also reported him to law enforcement). Why would I do that? RG: And The New Yorker article also alluded to a few things that you had gotten loose with in a couple of paragraphs. Fierceton is the 31st Penn student to be chosen as a Rhodes Scholar since the distinguished program's start in 1902. But I agreed to come into this Zoom meeting and this was the last day of November 2020. Enough bruises? box, it's like you have to fit yourself in, saying: Are you the first in your family to attend? Yes. Why would I do that? And whats the difference between the U.S. and English system? But I guess I cant say for sure. 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. 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? Its hard to say. 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 I ended up reading the comments, and the comments were just horrendous. I reached out for a response to the University of Pennsylvania and also Provost Beth Winkelstein and General Counsel Wendy White for a response, as well as to Mackenzies biological mother. So first-generation and/or low-income, again, is the acronym. 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. 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. But it was definitely something I saw happening sort of this funneling of kids from the child welfare to criminal justice system. Her junior year at Whitfield, a prestigious prep school, Mackenzie showed up to school one day in a terrible state. Which as Im sure youve learned since is a complete and fundamental misunderstanding of poverty . Brandt, the Chesterfield police detective who had originally investigated the case, said later that the prosecutor never explained to her what that new evidence was. In the transcript, I wrote it was really just focused on: What happened the night you went into foster care? 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. On Saturday afternoon, Fierceton said she found herself in a Zoom meeting for several hours with 10 other finalists from this region. What kind of a group is that? She had lived with her mother since her parents divorced acrimoniously during her childhood, and a guardian ad litem was appointed to represent Fierceton's interests in the proceeding, during which abuse allegations were made. 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. "[27], For the Penn investigation, Fierceton relied on the definition on the webpage for Penn First Plus, the university's support program for FGLI students, which includes the language about the student having a "strained or limited relationship" with the graduate parent. RG: Yeah. "How much does one have to suffer to have value? She ruined her moms career. There were some pretty basic errors, such as my name, my birth name, and my birth place, and claiming that I didnt have a sibling, that I wasnt low-income, a lot of facts that were pretty easily disputed. [2], The trust notified Fierceton at the beginning of 2021 that it was conducting an investigation into the allegations. [Laughs.]. 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? "[3][l], The Chronicle story led to nationwide coverage,[17][18] most of which framed the narrative as Penn and the Rhodes Trust had in their reports, depicting Fierceton as yet another exposed fraud. She didnt know he was in the basement. I have all these three kinds of different rationale and corroborations. Is that your experience with it as well? Like, they want to curate a diverse experience for their well-off students, so that they can say that they had this diverse experience in college . RG: And what was the first-generation community like on campus? Yeah. One, Michael Raffaele, said he believed Morrison was trying to leave Fierceton with no other options. Penn, by questioning so much of Fierceton's story, was making itself "complicit in a long campaign of continuing abuse", she added. 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. MF: Yeah, it was, things like that where I simplified all of these foster kids that youre living with a biological family who have kids, which I would say are foster siblings. How many covert wars, miscarriages of justice, and dystopian technologies would remain hidden if our reporters werent on the beat? "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." so that people have the background there. She had seen no signs of abuse in the relationship and considered Fierceton to be the dominant personality in it. And I think psychologically one way people feel safer about it is to say: No, that happens to other people. Morrison then brought suit in circuit court to have the board's decision reviewed and reversed. You didnt grow up in crumbling projects your entire life. RG: And I just want to read this for people. MF: I think youre right. [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. RG: Talk just a little bit about that case . If youd like to support our work, go to theintercept.com/give your donation, no matter what the amount, makes a real difference. 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. [Laughs.] She was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome and released after three weeks. 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