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REMEMBERING
Kippy Liddle
Analyzing the Magna Carta A Brooks fourth-former performed well in a local speech competition. Ritika Kommareddi ’17 took home second-place honors at the Lawrence Bar Association’s 2015 Law Day Speech
COURTESY OF JO LORI DRAKE ’85
Contest in May. The contest, which is hosted by the Lawrence Bar Association in conjunction with the American Bar Association (ABA), invites area high school students to prepare a five-minute speech on a theme chosen by the ABA. The event celebrates the contributions Former Brooks crew coach and history teacher Kippy Liddle (center, red blouse) smiles with Brooksians (from left to right) Jen Gooch ’83, Jo Lori Drake ’85 and Courtney Hayes ’83.
that the law and the legal process make to the pursuit of justice and the freedoms that all Americans share.
Every year, the Brooks com-
munity holds a remembrance service in Ashburn Chapel in tribute to Katherine “Kippy” Liddle, a young Brooks teacher, dorm parent and assistant crew coach who died in a boating accident on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia on March 23, 1984. This year’s service fell on April 25, which would have been Liddle’s 56th birthday. Liddle’s family was in attendance, and the service featured an emotional address by Liz O’Leary. O’Leary, a decorated former member of the United States Olympic and World Championship rowing teams, is currently the head coach of women’s heavyweight crew at Harvard University. She was the Brooks athletic director and head coach of girls crew during Liddle’s time at Brooks. On the day of the accident, Liddle was piloting a small, motorized launch boat during a preseason crew practice. A Brooks student was on board the launch with Liddle. As the boat
SUMME R 2015
pulled away from the dock and approached the Fairmount Dam, which blocks the lower part of the Schuylkill and precedes a 12-foot waterfall, the boat’s propellers became tangled with a rope. Liddle and the Brooks student were able to disentangle the propeller, but the boat’s engine subsequently failed to start, and the boat began drifting towards the waterfall. Liddle gave the Brooks student the launch’s only life jacket, and they both jumped overboard and attempted to swim to shore. The student survived, but Liddle did not. Liddle’s death led to an examination of risk management and safety issues in rowing: Today, USRowing — the national governing body for the sport of rowing in the United States — funds the Kippy Liddle Safety Kit for launches. The kit includes a first aid kit, rescue blankets, an air horn, a flashlight, a rescue throw bag, and enough life jackets for an eight-man crew, a coxswain, and two coaches.
This year, the contest recognized the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, the charter signed by King John of England that granted English land barons certain civil and political liberties. The speeches explored the lasting impact the Magna Carta has had on the modern world. Kommareddi, who delivered her speech at Lawrence District Court, spoke about the Magna Carta’s serving as an enduring symbol of freedom. She pointed out that the 39th clause of the Magna Carta grants the right of trial by jury, and related that right to several controversial topics present in modern American law and policy. Kommareddi argued that, without the Magna Carta, minority populations would not be able to fight for their rights effectively. “In this day and age,” Kommareddi said,
The 1225 version of the Magna Carta in the National Archives in London.
“we have so many issues at hand that are desperately in need of our attention. And I believe that we still desperately need the Magna Carta and its message until every single human has the same rights. We no longer have the kind of problems that the nobles had in 1215, but 800 years later, the Magna Carta is still very relevant in our lives.”
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