University officials have repeatedly refused to discuss Grant's case specifically, only stating that an admission offer was rescinded.
Vice President and General Counsel Margaret H. Marshall, and Joe Wrinn, acting director of the Harvard news office, refused comment yesterday.
Another Chapter
By all accounts, the events surrounding Grant's application to the College and the controversy that broke last week mark another unfortunate chapter in the life of a diligent student who has struggled to separate Curtis M. Dickson, the brother of DorothyMayfield and Grant's closest relative, saidyesterday that his niece's alleged deception, iftrue, was "just bad judgment." "She's still just a child," Dickson said."Given the situation, what else could she do? Ginawas in a predicament and probably just couldn'tfigure any other way to work through it." Although law-enforcement officials in LexingtonCo., South Carolina, have charged that Grantrepeatedly lied during her 1990 Family Courttrial, her defense attorney as well as thepsychiatrist hired to examine her continue tosupport the teen-ager, even in light of the mostrecent allegations. "If the judge found she had a pattern of lyingin the past, he would not have sentenced her theway he did," attorney Jack B. Swerling saidyesterday. "No one knows Gina Grant better than I do, andI know she's remorseful and I know she lives withit daily," Swerling added. "I've seen remorse inthis young lady and I've also seen a recognitionof what happened in her life. She's paid herprice, gone through the system, beenrehabilitated." Dr. Harold C. Morgan, who treated Grant duringher two-month stay in Baptish Medical Center inColumbia, S.C. following her arrest in September,1990, agreed. Morgan said if Grant did in fact lie during heradmissions interview, her actions areunderstandable given her past. "There's no excusefor that, but I think it's very understandable,"he said. "After all, where do we learn our moralvalues? At home." Both of Morgan's parents were alcoholics. Anautopsy report issued after Mayfield's deathindicated a blood alcohol level of .30, threetimes the legal intoxication limit. "How many of us try to put ourselves in afavorable light? Whose resume is entirelyletter-honest?" Morgan asked. "You have to thinkabout the 19-year-old who went through thisinterview. Understanding it doesn't make it right,but it's understandable that she might havehandled it that way rather than [through] agut-wrenching admission of what happened." The psychiatrist said Grant may have used anauto-accident response as a "stock answer" toinquiries about her mother's death. "In one sense it's denial. I can see how beingan orphan, people might say, 'What happened toyour parents?" he said. "This may be her way ofsatisfying people without being rude or going intopersonal details. All of us have convenient whitelies we use to lubricate the wheels of socialinteraction." Morgan added: "It's extraordinary what sheaccomplished [despite] the chaotic life" of herchildhood. Read more in News
