Dossier f97 - Tepper, Geraldine Rose, nee Simlewitz

File consists of a recording of Geraldine Tepper. Topics of the conversation include transfer as student from U. of T. to Queen's accompanying law-student husband articling in Kingston; return to Osgoode for first year LLB programme, to Kingston for opening of husband's law office; year spent assisting in office; membership in Queen's first graduating LLB class (1960). Atmosphere of Queen's 18-member class contrasted with Osgoode class of 200. Housing of Queen's law classes in male residence (Morris Hall) basement; lack of provision for female students. Subject and Mary Alice Murray representing 2:18 female-male ratio, high at the time; Osgoode ratio 12 :200. Absence of discrimination against female students by students, professors; absence of political sex­ consciousness in female students; tolerance of the odd off­colour story as 'part of education'; lack of sympathy with woman's excessive protest of 'Dear Sir' form of salutation in recent letter from subject's secretary. Student acceptance of subject's unusual married status. Job-security advantage of marriage into law-practice: novelty factor of women in law as a cause of concern to female students (1950s) despite ample job market. Presentday competitive factor (1200 ap­plicants per law-school opening), taking the fun out of studenthood; open admission to law school (1950s) based on degree; difficulty passing following acceptance, estimated 33 % first year failure/dropout rate; limitless tolerance of female students because of open admission standards, adequate job supply. Normal life as married student at Queen's despite residence tradition, majority single status; law school as three-year grind, more time devoted to study than to social life. Lingering influence of WWII veteran students on campus life: no-nonsense learning atmosphere, emphasis on practical happiness; A-bomb issue as only symptom of ethical unrest. Tragic unhappiness of law student 'misfits', born 10 years before their time. Convocation address (1956) by Adlai Stevenson; hope that Queen's will again engage eminent topical speakers. Psychology professor, former editor of New England Daily Worker, quietly working at Queen's following McCarthy witchhunt. Influence of career-bent all-male childhood playmates in decision to study law; marriage as an unplanned development; practice of warning dates she was set on career. Canadian total involvement in WWII; seeming non-existence of conscientious objectors, draft-dodgers; subject's burning desire to enlist. Enjoyment of position as female lawyer to local Royal Canadian Legion. Domestic safety factor in Canadian lack of protest of WWII. Role of Horace Read (father of Kingston lawyer Gordon Read) in negotiating Canada's entry into war. Subject's continuing support of WWII as absolutely necessary; criticism of frail Canadian civil rights, treatment of Japanese. Canadian Bill of Rights as 'a sore point, "lovely on paper" never effectively used.' Edward Morrow radio coverage of London Blitz, liberation of concentration camps; horror coverage surpassing TV in allowance for vivid imagination. Ignorance of French Canadian war-protest resulting from Anglophone cultural isolation; advances in Canadian social-political awareness culminating in present­ day critical concern. Expensive challenge of Bar exams written in Toronto; 6 weeks 1 exam per week, no results till final notice of pass /failure. Marriage-career combinations of female colleagues; perspicacity of those enrolling in Cont. Ed. updating courses while interrupting career for child­raising; unlikelihood of child-raising combined with fulltime legal practice. Personal decision to forego parenting: high standard of family living acquired during childhood; inability to carry off family life and law successfully. Law school complication of non-practising teachers favouring their own type, though academic students fare no better than eventual lawyers. Expectation that job shortage will soon level off; senior lawyer's observation, 'The greatest present you have is your birth-date' (apropos economic conditions). Variety of fields open to lawyers. Subject's practice, distinguished from husband's for tax reasons, different choice of field; law as a 'nickel and dime' affair, requiring little initial expenditure. Annual assessment of law student cases at Queen's; well-argued sample case of girl refused admission to hockey league. Changing face of Queen's law school: larger representation of women, cultural minorities; larger enrolment; separate building. Strained relations between practising Kingston lawyers, Queen's law faculty, resulting from professors' infiltration into practical field. Serious approach of 1970s students as reminiscent of 1950s; radical difference of '60s students (now adopting pin-stripe suits) . Kingston awareness, as border city, of 1960s student unrest; greater media coverage awarded Queen's activities then than now. Enjoyment of international law conventions; universal similarity of legal problems despite difference in legal systems; realisation that small-town lawyers are not 'hick', isolated, but part of a world-wide 'little society'. Appreciation of personal element in Kingston practice, less likely in a large city; similarity as lawyer to old GP, receiving clients as though they were an extended family.