And you experienced that yourself, right? Last edited on 10 February 2023, at 00:35, Learn how and when to remove this template message, the state's Department of Social Services, tortious interference with a business relationship, negligent infliction of emotional distress, "Verified Answer and New Matter to Plaintiff's Complaint", "How an Ivy League School Turned Against a Student", "Deconstructed: Mackenzie Fierceton on Her Battle With UPenn", "Ex Alderman Newsletter 168 And Chesterfield 113", "St. Luke's physician charged with felony child abuse", "Abuse charges against former St. Luke's physician are dropped", "Henry Lovelace, owner of Wild Horse Fitness Passes Away", "Former St. Louis woman who spent time in foster care named Rhodes Scholar", "Thousands petition U. to cut ties with Philly PD, reform militarized campus 'police state', "Penn student who aged out of foster care wins prestigious Rhodes Scholarship", "Following public outcry, Penn lifts hold on former Rhodes Scholar Mackenzie Fierceton's master's degree", "University Mourns Loss of Cameron Avant Driver", "Student loses Rhodes scholarship over allegations of lying about her foster care upbringing", "Former St. Louis-area student loses Rhodes scholarship over 'false narratives', "Student Misleads With Story of Poverty and Abuse and Wins Rhodes ScholarshipNow, the Media Is Defending Her", "Did This Rhodes Wannabe Lie About Her Background? She kept a journal, writing that she was in so much pain from her bruised ribs that she could barely breathe. 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. 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. And so I wanted to start with where things really started to unravel for you. My understanding is there were two anonymous emails. Because that was one of the ones that really blew my mind. What kind of a group is that? So Rachel had it and Penn disputed it. So, yes. But I got a bit of pressure from Penn to do that. Then the University of Pennsylvania accused her of. 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. Or is this something thats been overlooked? In her reading, Tracy came across an article that congratulated Mackenzie Fierceton, a University of Pennsylvania graduate, on being named a Rhodes Scholar. There was also the part of me that was terrified. 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? "[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. Fierceton considered dropping out, but "if I truly can't do this, where am I supposed to return to? That is when I would trace it back to. Yeah. Is that just an interpretation or did they say anything that suggested to you that the fact that you had gone to a private school and grown up in an upper-middle-class situation meant that you could never at any point consider yourself low-income? I think [its] called Penn First, I believe, and it seems like you socially spent a lot of time with them? MF: And its mentioned briefly. 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. The notation in her transcript remains. RG: So you applied for your masters in social work and there was a question of whether to check the, what Ive learned is called the FGLI box: first-generation, low-income. That is when I would trace it back to. Because that was one of the ones that really blew my mind. RG: or in graduate school. 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. RG: And it has, has she stuck by that? Mackenzie, for her part, was accepted to the University of Pennsylvania and, in her sophomore year, won a Rhodes Scholarship. 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. 's office explained the decision to drop the charges against Morrison as based on new evidence that had emerged. I had never heard of FGLI, but these labels resonated with a story I was still trying to process. Every objective and careful reviewer of the facts in this case including the Rhodes Trust, Penns Office of Student Conduct, a faculty committee from Fiercetons graduate school at Penn, and a hearing panel consisting of faculty and students from other Penn schools concluded that Fierceton had not been truthful.. And so they had to see some benefit to them in doing this. And even now, The New Yorker quotes a lot from my childhood journals describing my abuse. 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 . Then the University of Pennsylvania accused her of lying. And then The New Yorker adds in parentheses that a Penn spokesperson says: Yeah, well, thats not the definition that we use. "[b] She considered running away but had a distant relationship with her father, and nowhere else she believed she could go. Her last set of foster parents had had a baby and she felt less a part of their lives. And what area of it are you going to explore with your Ph.D.? Mackenzie Fierceton was named Penn's 2021 Rhodes Scholar. [2], The next morning, when Fierceton awoke, Morrison told her she was taking her car keys and telling the school she was sick. 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. Because processes become Kafkaesque very quickly. MF: So thats the background of him. [26] In the second, he wrote, "[y]ou could also conclude from Mackenzie Fierceton's story that there is no actual empathy within elite institutions unless you perfectly fit into the trauma hierarchy they have created, which preferences the types of overcoming-adversity stories they can place in a brochure. [2], DSS kept Morrison on its child-abuser registry, as it still believed the allegations to be founded, and a petition to its Child Abuse and Neglect Review Board to have her removed was denied. She bounced from one foster home to the next. RG: 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. Am I right about that? In the transcript, I wrote it was really just focused on: What happened the night you went into foster care? 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. What about Rhodes? 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. [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. [2], To White, Morrison repeated her story that her daughter had fabricated the abuse allegations. RG: Did they make that threat in writing or was that . 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. She got straight A's, served in student government, managed the field hockey team, played varsity soccer, and volunteered to assist with the local Special Olympics. And they released this quote-unquote report in April of 2021 with their findings. 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. [9][3], In her sophomore year, Fierceton, already majoring in political science,[3] decided to pursue social work as a career, with the goal of being a voice for children in foster care like the ones she had come to know. 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. RG: And whats the difference between the U.S. and English system? [2], Fierceton remained in the hospital, where DSS ordered her placed in protective custody. That was Mackenzie Fierceton and thats our show. She was abused, but there is not enough blood." 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. They didnt respond, though Mackenzies biological mother has denied the allegations of abuse. Fierceton began secretly documenting physical and psychological abuse by her mother, a radiologist, during her high school years. And I think its true. And still, it was just like: Nope. And in the U.S., there is much more pressure to pull kids out of homes, right? "[12] Gutmann, soon to step down from her position to serve as U.S. ambassador to Germany, had made increasing the amount of FGLI students at Penn a priority in her previous 17 years as the university's president. And so can you talk a little bit about your research? Thats been my understanding of it. OSC referred the recommendation to an SP2 panel to make a final determination; she has subsequently appealed the decision. RG: Well, Mackenzie, thank you so much for joining me and sharing your story. I cant remember if it was in the Rhodes essay or in another essay that, in hindsight, you wouldve tightened up. 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. [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. Mother has denied the allegations of abuse set of foster parents had had a baby and she felt less part! She bounced from one foster home to the next decision to drop the charges Morrison! Hospital, where DSS ordered her placed in protective custody going to explore with your Ph.D.: happened! 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