[2] Morrison's bond was originally set at $40,000, but lowered to $5,000 over prosecutors' strenuous objections. And one of the main things they pointed to was that she had gone to this private school . RG: So how is a person who is filling out this application supposed to know what definition youre supposed to use? Interesting. 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. I do think that it is a huge defense mechanism that people deploy. [23] In mid-April, Penn released Fierceton's master's degree. Within days of the article being published, the universitys general counsel was in touch with Mackenzies mother. So they didnt ask about that in this meeting. And that dynamic, I would say, [laughs] probably played a big part in all of this. And still, it was just like: Nope. And the theme of private school definitely came up many times over the course of the last year and a half. [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. was truthful, Rafaelle feared that Penn might share its information with the government and if the U.S. Attorney decided to pursue a prosecution, it would be likely to last a long time and consume much of her attention. [2] They learned that SP2 had no real protocol for an emergency situation in the building. Enough blood? And I think psychologically one way people feel safer about it is to say: No, that happens to other people. And I ended up reading the comments, and the comments were just horrendous. [2], Over the middle of 2020, Fierceton became active in the Black Lives Matter protests at Penn. "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 those questions came like later on and were really a part of the initial interrogation. Is that your experience with it as well? 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 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? students, defines first generation broadly, including students who have a strained or limited relationship with a parent who has graduated from college. Ryan Grim: This weeks guest on Deconstructed is Mackenzie Fierceton, who was the subject of a recent story in The New Yorker. And we do know for sure that she was in touch with the university. I cant remember if it was in the Rhodes essay or in another essay that, in hindsight, you wouldve tightened up. And MacKenzie is the only one whos allowed to answer these questions. Photograph by Robbie Lawrence for The New Yorker Mackenzie Fierceton grew up in a middle-class suburb of St. Louis. MF: You know, in my personal experience, there were not very many kids who came from a background like me. And we have our own specific grad school definitions. And so I did definitely have that kind of like: I have no idea what else is going to convince these people. Right. And I asked again and just said: Ive had different experiences of harassment for the last four years at Penn. At her request Penn kept her contact information out of the school's directory on its website. 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. I n November 2020, University of Pennsylvania graduate student Mackenzie Fierceton, 24, won the Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University. 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. [2] Katie Couric had Fierceton as a guest on her podcast a week later. So Rachel had it and Penn disputed it. Because that was one of the ones that really blew my mind. She was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome and released after three weeks. I think [its] called Penn First, I believe, and it seems like you socially spent a lot of time with them? But the acclaim quickly devolved into acrimony as the university and the Rhodes Trust began questioning aspects of Fiercetons backstory. And if you havent already, please subscribe to the show so you can hear it every week. She had begun to remember more about the incident, and while still not certain how it had happened recalled that before it she and her mother had been fighting about Lovelace. Or is this something thats been overlooked? Just like some basic questions [laughs] and then a lot of detailed questions about my application. And did they say anything along those lines? MF: And with that, like you said, notion of: Well, theres no way that you went to private school and all of this could have still happened, or that you could be low-income now and this idea that socioeconomic status is permanent. 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. [14], Fierceton and her faculty supporters have suspected that Penn's investigation of her, and its determination to cast aspersions on her credibility, may be related to her role in fomenting a wrongful death suit filed against the university in August 2020, before she had been announced as a Rhodes Scholarship winner. Mackenzie Fierceton was deposed after seeking justice for a mature student, Cameron Driver, 38. And she had gone to a private school growing up. MF: Yeah. Her account was not completely inaccurateshe described as a foster child one sibling of hers who was actually the biological child of her foster parents, for instance, which she attributed later to not having developed her essay at length. And Im kind of one of the lucky ones where I had really expansive and thorough documentation for all the parts of this story. [2], Brandt interviewed Morrison, who described herself and her daughter as "two peas in a pod". "Was the problem that a child who was placed into foster care and had no contact with her biological mother wasn't actually a first-generation college student? Its a very different lifestyle. OSC referred the recommendation to an SP2 panel to make a final determination; she has subsequently appealed the decision. And with that, like you said, notion of: Well, theres no way that you went to private school and all of this could have still happened, or that you could be low-income now and this idea that socioeconomic status is permanent. And: Did you report what was going on to your school? [1]:86, Morrison prospered in her medical career, and she provided generously for her daughter, allowing her to ride horses, go on river rafting trips and attend exclusive private schools, such as Whitfield, in nearby Creve Coeur, where annual tuition was almost $30,000. 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. The situation was further complicated by a lack of cell phone service in the basement, requiring students to team up and verbally relay information from the 9-1-1 operator to a professor performing CPR on Driver and back to a student posted just outside the door. 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]). Anything interesting in that that you noticed? But part of it is funding decisions. So that was what the actual poem and personal statement was about [laughs.] [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. But there was another definition that was also along those lines that I fit, that was, again, public on the website. Rather than it being for the purpose of benefiting the students themselves. Yeah, so Penn First for the whole FGLI community. 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. So I was like: OK, fine. But her mother wasnt finished with her. Within a year of her arrest, another St. Louis-area hospital had granted her admitting privileges, and she was able to resume her medical career. It was literally just like: She was arrested and her daughter is hospitalized. who was, I believe now, the acting provost. At Norton's request, a fellow political science colleague, Rogers Smith, who while at Yale had chaired that university's undergraduate disciplinary committee, agreed to represent Fierceton during what he called "a very unusual process". And the chain of events that happened leading into foster care? MF: No, I found it before. Jay Caspian Kang sounded similar themes in two different New York Times newsletters discussing Fierceton's story. Her junior year at Whitfield, a prestigious prep school, Mackenzie showed up to school one day in a terrible state. 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? Anything in particular jump out at you after having read back over that transcript? Yeah. And if you read it aloud, its almost exactly the length of the phone call. MF: At first there was actually, there was contention. 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. MF: And its mentioned briefly. 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. RG: Did they make that threat in writing or was that . RG: And what was the first-generation community like on campus? [2], Fierceton moved into the first of several foster homes, with one other foster sibling and two biological children of the foster parents. 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. Initial interrogation the comments were just horrendous to convince these people mid-April Penn. She has subsequently appealed the decision Fierceton 's master 's degree many times over course. 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