Mackenzie Fierceton

Mackenzie Cahira Fierceton (born Mackenzie Terrell; August 9, 1997; later Mackenzie Morrison ) is an American activist and graduate student. Raised in Chesterfield, Missouri, she attended Whitfield School in Creve Coeur, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's in political science and master's in social work, and is a graduate student at the University of Oxford.

Fierceton came to international attention when she became embroiled in a scandal over how she characterized her background in her university and Rhodes Scholarship applications. Coverage of the case provoked debate around the different definitions of first-generation used in higher education and whether Fierceton as a foster care leaver estranged from her parents qualified or not, and whether universities exploited the narratives of first-generation students.

Early life

Fierceton was born August 9, 1997, by the name Mackenzie Terrell, in Danbury, Connecticut, Her father, Billy Terrell, She achieved high grades and was active in student government, volunteering, and varsity sports. After she entered foster care, she received a scholarship to complete her studies at Whitfield. On another occasion, she sustained a head injury and was hospitalised at St Luke's, where her mother worked. Morrison told the admitting physician she thought the injury had been caused by her daughter falling down the stairs.

Wrongful death lawsuit

In 2020 after suffering an epileptic seizure in a basement of Penn's Caster Building, Fierceton campaigned to improve accessibility in the building. It reportedly took medical personnel approximately an hour to extract her from the building due to difficulties in fitting a stretcher in the elevator or stairway. In March 2021, her experience led to her deposition in a lawsuit against the university over the wrongful death of Cameron Driver, who had died following a medical emergency in the basement in 2018. was disputed by the father of one of her Whitfield contemporaries.

During this time, Penn's general counsel Wendy White began corresponding with Fierceton's estranged biological mother Morrison, who claimed that Fierceton had constructed the abuse narrative because she felt pressure after failing an AP Chemistry test, although this version of events is not consistent with her Whitfield transcript, and Morrison's sister, who claimed that Fierceton had planted her blood in the house to frame her mother.

Penn proposed to revoke Fierceton's bachelor's on the grounds of her misrepresentation, unless she agreed to withdraw from the Rhodes Scholarship, surrender her Latin honors, and take a mandatory leave for "counseling and support." After Fierceton complained to professors that she felt Penn was pressuring her, White wrote to her adding the requirement that Fierceton say she was agreeing to withdraw from the scholarship "voluntarily and without pressure." Fierceton rejected the offer.

In December 2021, Fierceton began legal action against Penn, accusing the university of retaliating against her for her involvement in the wrongful death lawsuit.

Further studies In April 2022, Fierceton was a DPhil student at the University of Oxford.

Critical commentary on investigations

Nature of "first-generation low-income" students

The exact definition of "first generation" and "FGLI" and whether Fierceton was correct to identify as such has been a key consideration in the Rhodes Trust and Penn investigations, as well as media coverage. In The New Yorkers piece on the controversy, journalist Rachel Aviv suggested the root cause of the controversy was the ambiguity of the term "first generation low income", meaning either first generation or low income, not necessarily both, and noted that multiple definitions of "first generation" are in use by different institutions, and even within Penn.

Fierceton's professor, Anne Norton, told the New Yorker: writing,

Personal life

Fierceton identifies as queer.