UMC suburban college student lied about background to become prestigious Rhodes Scholar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PS: They want the apology (I think) in her file because that will accompany EVERY transcript reviewed when she applies for a position of trust based on her education, ever again, for her whole life -- regardless of whether she changes her name 1000 times.

In any job interview or credentialing application, she will have to explain what happened, and she won't be able to wiggle out of it by blaming other people. Her own admission will accompany every transcript of the degree she "earned."

Yeah. That's the right thing to do. She did the work, and it will always have an asterisk beside it. As it should.

What “work,” they’re busy work soft degrees she got for free. A spoiled rich brat was literally paid to go to college classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Penn likely has enough on her to turn her into the feds for pell grant fraud and also admissions fraud, which could be used to strip her of all Penn degrees, not just the master’s. I wish they would. Why let this scammer defile the integrity of the institution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Penn likely has enough on her to turn her into the feds for pell grant fraud and also admissions fraud, which could be used to strip her of all Penn degrees, not just the master’s. I wish they would. Why let this scammer defile the integrity of the institution.

How can she claim on some financial aid documents she is privy to her dad’s college fund for a half-sister but not use dad and his wife’s nor her mom’s tax returns and assets for financial aid purposes? It’s fraud. She qualified for zero aid, she stole it from actual poor children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A judge has denied UPenn’s request to have the Fierceton case moved from Common Pleas Court. See the linked article from Big Trial, “Penn Loses Round One in ‘Pillow Talk’ Conspiracy Case”:

https://www.bigtrial.net/2022/01/penn-loses-round-one-in-pillow-talk.html

This is no big deal one way or the other. It is normal to file a motion to remove, and normal for it to be denied. The histrionics used in this blog post are so over the top that it is impossible to take it seriously.

I agree. Fierceton might have actually been better off in commerce court. No trial. They could settle and close it out. Instead lot of publicity and Fierceton looks even worse. I do agree something up with the Inquirer though. But that’s on the newspaper not UPenn. .

How would Fierceton be better off in Commerce Court?

If she had simply wanted to settle Penn offered her a settlement in which they were willing to “give” her the degree which she had already earned and sell out their “Honor” Code violation for a mere $4000 bucks and an apology.

She obviously doesn’t want a “settlement”. Like it or not, agree or disagree, she is a woman on a crusade. The whole point of this suit is that she wants a public trial. She’s not going to admit that she was wrong as Penn wants. Let the chips fall where they may.

DP Universities don't give degrees. They grant them, and according to specific criteria. Universities are held to a standard in this as well, especially when you are charged with granting a degree that enables one to get licensed in a field where ethics, truthfulness, and being in touch with reality on a regular basis are a must.

Doing the work is sometimes a necessary but not sufficient criterion for actually earning the degree. And yes, if there is an honor component that was in the initial matriculation agreement that she entered into, it's not just kind of a good idea. It, too, is a requirement.

I agree with you on the licensure component, which normally require an endorsement from the degree granting institution. If they have reason to withhold their endorsement when licensure is at stake, that would be the time for them to do it.

But withhold a degree for which they have already said she has met all the requirements? And which they’re willing to grant her if she’ll just apologize and pay them $4K? Please stop with all the “holier than thou” BS. An MSW is an academic degree, not a measure of character. They’ve been blackmailing her all along to get the apology so they can get themselves off the hook. That’s what they really want - for her to take the blame so they can say “it’s not our fault.”

Not only are they withholding her master’s degree, but they threatened to rescind her bachelor’s degree. As an institution, they’ve already produced world class liars and have not threatened to rescind their UPenn degrees - people like Donald Trump and Michael Milken. Talk about fraud, Milken went to jail for it and was then hired to teach at one of our top tier universities. And Trump pardoned him despite the fact that he was back to his old truck and was under investigation from the SEC. Did sanctimonious Penn step in and threaten to rescind the degree they granted to either of these two disgraceful characters? But MacKenzie Fierceton’s behaviour was beyond the pale, right? Couldn’t be tolerated. Her real sin was that she made them look bad because they had been complicit in everything she did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Penn likely has enough on her to turn her into the feds for pell grant fraud and also admissions fraud, which could be used to strip her of all Penn degrees, not just the master’s. I wish they would. Why let this scammer defile the integrity of the institution.

But they didn’t do that, did they? Just proving that your “likely has enough” claim is full of crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PS: They want the apology (I think) in her file because that will accompany EVERY transcript reviewed when she applies for a position of trust based on her education, ever again, for her whole life -- regardless of whether she changes her name 1000 times.

In any job interview or credentialing application, she will have to explain what happened, and she won't be able to wiggle out of it by blaming other people. Her own admission will accompany every transcript of the degree she "earned."

Yeah. That's the right thing to do. She did the work, and it will always have an asterisk beside it. As it should.

Please stop. She graduated summa cum laude. Her academic accomplishments. Yes, she earned it.

Meanwhile, every year Penn and every other elite university hands out spots in the incoming freshman class to high rollers who will come up with the right dollar amount to buy their way in. These are the same families who have the resources to hire people to do their kids papers and then submit them as their own. Everyone knows that this goes on. Former admissions officers have written articles about it. We all know it from personal experience.

But universities like Penn just looking the other way, making them complicit. They’re corrupt to the core. Yet they bully this kid because she made them look bad. The real fraud is Penn with their fake Honir Code and all the rest if it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A judge has denied UPenn’s request to have the Fierceton case moved from Common Pleas Court. See the linked article from Big Trial, “Penn Loses Round One in ‘Pillow Talk’ Conspiracy Case”:

https://www.bigtrial.net/2022/01/penn-loses-round-one-in-pillow-talk.html

This is no big deal one way or the other. It is normal to file a motion to remove, and normal for it to be denied. The histrionics used in this blog post are so over the top that it is impossible to take it seriously.

I agree. Fierceton might have actually been better off in commerce court. No trial. They could settle and close it out. Instead lot of publicity and Fierceton looks even worse. I do agree something up with the Inquirer though. But that’s on the newspaper not UPenn. .

How would Fierceton be better off in Commerce Court?

If she had simply wanted to settle Penn offered her a settlement in which they were willing to “give” her the degree which she had already earned and sell out their “Honor” Code violation for a mere $4000 bucks and an apology.

She obviously doesn’t want a “settlement”. Like it or not, agree or disagree, she is a woman on a crusade. The whole point of this suit is that she wants a public trial. She’s not going to admit that she was wrong as Penn wants. Let the chips fall where they may.

DP Universities don't give degrees. They grant them, and according to specific criteria. Universities are held to a standard in this as well, especially when you are charged with granting a degree that enables one to get licensed in a field where ethics, truthfulness, and being in touch with reality on a regular basis are a must.

Doing the work is sometimes a necessary but not sufficient criterion for actually earning the degree. And yes, if there is an honor component that was in the initial matriculation agreement that she entered into, it's not just kind of a good idea. It, too, is a requirement.

I agree with you on the licensure component, which normally require an endorsement from the degree granting institution. If they have reason to withhold their endorsement when licensure is at stake, that would be the time for them to do it.

But withhold a degree for which they have already said she has met all the requirements? And which they’re willing to grant her if she’ll just apologize and pay them $4K? Please stop with all the “holier than thou” BS. An MSW is an academic degree, not a measure of character. They’ve been blackmailing her all along to get the apology so they can get themselves off the hook. That’s what they really want - for her to take the blame so they can say “it’s not our fault.”

Not only are they withholding her master’s degree, but they threatened to rescind her bachelor’s degree. As an institution, they’ve already produced world class liars and have not threatened to rescind their UPenn degrees - people like Donald Trump and Michael Milken. Talk about fraud, Milken went to jail for it and was then hired to teach at one of our top tier universities. And Trump pardoned him despite the fact that he was back to his old truck and was under investigation from the SEC. Did sanctimonious Penn step in and threaten to rescind the degree they granted to either of these two disgraceful characters? But MacKenzie Fierceton’s behaviour was beyond the pale, right? Couldn’t be tolerated. Her real sin was that she made them look bad because they had been complicit in everything she did.

Didn't I read that they'd waive the $4000? They wouldn't waive the apology. The MSW degree is the endorsement. The granting of the degree is the endorsement that she has met the criteria, including whatever ethics and honor code they are working under. Penn is also CSWE-accredited and has to maintain that accreditation, and that comes with responsibilities to the accuracy of records and fulfilment of obligations to protect the field.

Did you think the a credentialing department calls 7 years later and asks to speak to someone for a reference for someone applying to work as a social worker? The degree is the reference, and she did not earn an unqualified reference from them. She can lie, omit, change names, whatever, but she won't get out of this one.

As to her bachelor's degree, I don't know what she violated, lied about, or made up out of whole cloth for that one, so I can't speak to it.

I await the trial and the process of discovery, though.

[Anonymous]

PP, are you saying there's no problem with her falsifying information, if other people do it, too?

That's damning with, well, not even faint praise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn likely has enough on her to turn her into the feds for pell grant fraud and also admissions fraud, which could be used to strip her of all Penn degrees, not just the master’s. I wish they would. Why let this scammer defile the integrity of the institution.

But they didn’t do that, did they? Just proving that your “likely has enough” claim is full of crap.

DP. We don’t know what Penn did it didn’t do, or has or didn’t have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn likely has enough on her to turn her into the feds for pell grant fraud and also admissions fraud, which could be used to strip her of all Penn degrees, not just the master’s. I wish they would. Why let this scammer defile the integrity of the institution.

How can she claim on some financial aid documents she is privy to her dad’s college fund for a half-sister but not use dad and his wife’s nor her mom’s tax returns and assets for financial aid purposes? It’s fraud. She qualified for zero aid, she stole it from actual poor children.

No, she did qualify for financial aid because she was independent of both parents. You don’t have to like it, but you can’t make things up and then scream fraud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn likely has enough on her to turn her into the feds for pell grant fraud and also admissions fraud, which could be used to strip her of all Penn degrees, not just the master’s. I wish they would. Why let this scammer defile the integrity of the institution.

But they didn’t do that, did they? Just proving that your “likely has enough” claim is full of crap.

DP. We don’t know what Penn did it didn’t do, or has or didn’t have.

Well, we certainly know that there’s no evidence they did. And there’s no mention of it in their court submissions, in which their lawyers most assuredly would have included this if it happened. We can be reasonably sure they didn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, are you saying there's no problem with her falsifying information, if other people do it, too?

That's damning with, well, not even faint praise.

What I’m objecting to is the one sided treatment of this case as though Penn has done nothing wrong and as though such a rich, powerful institution is the victim here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn likely has enough on her to turn her into the feds for pell grant fraud and also admissions fraud, which could be used to strip her of all Penn degrees, not just the master’s. I wish they would. Why let this scammer defile the integrity of the institution.

But they didn’t do that, did they? Just proving that your “likely has enough” claim is full of crap.

DP. We don’t know what Penn did it didn’t do, or has or didn’t have.

Well, we certainly know that there’s no evidence they did. And there’s no mention of it in their court submissions, in which their lawyers most assuredly would have included this if it happened. We can be reasonably sure they didn’t.

As a lawyer who practiced education law, I can assure you that in house counsel and outside counsel dotted every i and crossed every t before they took any action.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn likely has enough on her to turn her into the feds for pell grant fraud and also admissions fraud, which could be used to strip her of all Penn degrees, not just the master’s. I wish they would. Why let this scammer defile the integrity of the institution.

But they didn’t do that, did they? Just proving that your “likely has enough” claim is full of crap.

She claimed a lawyer at Penn threatened to turn her in for pell grant fraud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, are you saying there's no problem with her falsifying information, if other people do it, too?

That's damning with, well, not even faint praise.

What I’m objecting to is the one sided treatment of this case as though Penn has done nothing wrong and as though such a rich, powerful institution is the victim here.

Sure. Let's posit everything you've claimed about Penn is true.

Now what's your assessment of Fierceton's behavior, particularly the criticisms levelled so far?