Just before Christmas, Fierceton — who changed her last name while in college — filed an explosive lawsuit in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, claiming the university, its trustees and three Penn officials had participated in a complex conspiracy against her.
She alleges that Penn conducted a “sham investigation” into her background, unjustifiably withheld her master’s degree and wrote a “secret letter” to the Rhodes committee to discredit her. The claim also accuses Wendy White, Penn’s general counsel, of threatening to “come after” both of Fierceton’s degrees if she did not give up her Rhodes Scholarship.
Furthermore, Fierceton claims in her suit that the school conducted its investigation because she had complained to administrators about insufficient access to emergency services at Penn after she had a seizure at school in early 2020.