Fair Play

Kim Turner CdeP 1998 returns to campus and shares with the community details of her work ensuring equality in athletics.
This past Thursday Thacher was pleased to welcome Kim Turner CdeP 1998 back to campus to deliver the 2016 Orrick Lecture. Each year, Thacher's Judge William H. Orrick Lecture Series aims to shed light on important political, social, and economic issues. In her speech entitled Title IX - Sports Equality, Societal Equality: How a 45-Year-Old Federal Civil Rights Law Has and Will Continue to Transform Our Schools and CountryMs. Turner addressed the importance and positive impact of gender equality in athletics.

Ms. Turner serves as a senior staff attorney with the Gender Equity & LGBT Rights Program and the Fair Play for Girls in Sports Project of the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center, a one-hundred-year-old nonprofit organization in San Francisco. After graduating from Thacher, Ms. Turner attended Brown University, where she played for the varsity women’s volleyball team and the junior varsity soccer team. After acquiring her BA with a double major in public policy and sociology, Ms. Turner attended Cardozo Law School in New York City, graduating in 2008. Since then, she has found her passion to be advocating for equality in athletic opportunities for female youth. Today, she works to enforce Title IX in public school athletic programs to ensure female students experience equity on their sports teams, particularly focusing on girls in low-income areas and girls of color. Recently, Ms. Turner handled a case regarding Title IX issues at nearby Santa Paula High School in their athletic program, a matter that she discussed with the community in her talk, along with how Title IX works, what it is like to be a nonprofit attorney, and how Thacher students and staff can get more involved in bringing about lasting equity in all communities. Ms. Turner has dedicated her career to securing equity for all citizens, something Judge Orrick would have praised. 

Senior athlete Jordan Perry commented, "It was super cool getting to talk to Ms. Turner about her work! Even though I missed her talk for a lacrosse game, I had an opportunity to talk to her afterwards about how to go about looking for sexism in sports, especially at the high school level. As a female athlete, it was interesting to have common areas of sexism pointed out that I had never thought of."

The Orrick Lecture Series, now in its tenth year, is made possible through a gift of former U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick Jr. CdeP 1932 and his wife, Suzanne. A longstanding and unusually loyal devotee and supporter of The Thacher School, former U.S. District Judge Orrick had a fond wish for his alma mater: that students could learn more about the U.S. legal system, jurisprudence, and the public service done by attorneys and judges, in order to serve their communities and make a difference in the world after their time at Thacher.

As per the Judge Orrick’s directive and gustatory preference, every Lecture concludes with Eskimo Pies on the Pergola!
Back

More About Thacher

Interested in learning more about Thacher? Sign up for a virtual visit here.
Notice of nondiscriminatory policy as to students: The Thacher School admits students of any race, color, national, and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national, and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other School-administered programs.