UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #375
WESTRING, CLARENCE and DOROTHY

WESTRING, Clarence (1905-1992)
Undergraduate and Law Student
At UW: 1925-1929

and WESTRING, Dorothy (1904- )
Undergraduate Student
At UW: 1925-1929

Interviewed: 1985	
Interviewer: Barry Teicher
Length: 1 hour

Arrival at UW; Law School; Boarding houses; Fraternity and sorority life; Max Otto and William Ellery Leonard; Black Friday; Daily Cardinal; President Glenn Frank; Wisconsin Idea.

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:23	Years both attended the University of Wisconsin (UW).  Clarence's (CW) transfer; graduated in 1929.

00:02:09	Scholarship offers Dorothy (DW) received.  First chose Northwestern, but friends convinced her to come here.

00:03:38	Clarence's decision to attend law school.

00:04:27	Course of study in the law school.  CW went through two summer schools.  A three-year course.  Usually took five years, overall.  Fulfilling L&S requirements.

00:07:05	Had to work in a 6-month "office practice" to earn degree.  Work done there.  Other students fulfilled these apprenticeships, and not all in Madison.  Didn't have to take Wisconsin Bar exam.

00:09:15	Not many women in law school at that time.

00:11:06	Dorothy lived in a rooming house.  Process of finding it.  DW pretty much on her own.  Ate many times at Lawrence's on State Street and Whitler's Tea Room on University Avenue.  What Lawrence's was like.  Entertainment at Lawrence's--before the days of the Union.

00:15:17	Going to speakeasies.  Had to go to an out-of-town farmhouse.  The lax police attitude.

00:17:24	Why DW left her rooming house.  Moved in with friends in Ann Emery Hall.  Rooming house rules regarding men--could come in only as far as the parlor.

00:19:55	CW lived in a rooming house, then moved to a law students' fraternity.  Effects of CW and friends cooking for themselves.  A frugal group, but they sometimes ate out.

00:23:04	Rooming house dwellers really supported State Street restaurants.  Opening of the Union.  The Women's Union in Lathrop Hall.  Clarence and Dorothy met there at a dance.

00:25:18	Some old men-only rooms at the Union.

00:26:55	CW's fraternity.  The rushing process.  How a pledge is accepted.  CW's worries that he wouldn't be able to afford living in a fraternity.  Social life.  Some got into trouble with Prohibition.  Story of actual gunfight.

00:34:23	Relations between police and students.

00:34:57	Fraternity hazing.  Forms of initiation.

00:37:35	Lawyers, engineers and St. Patrick's Day.  The rivalry.

00:39:09	DW's selection of English as a major.  Her interest in CW.

00:40:48	Some memorable courses for DW.  Courses in English.  DW bored with most of them.

00:42:11	DW's impressions of Max Otto.  Very popular professor.  His affect on DW regarding religion and logic.

00:44:07	How students dealt with Otto and his precepts.

00:45:37	Otto not an atheist, despite popular belief.  Well-liked by students.

00:46:12	William E. Leonard.

00:46:43	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:46:52	Story on Leonard and trains.  He wouldn't get around much; he was comfortable only in a small area of town.  Swam at the Y.

00:49:17	How students saw Leonard.  English students in awe.  He stood out on campus.

00:50:18	William Kiekhofer.  CW's impressions.  He was a good professor.  Kiekhofer's Wall.

00:53:42	Law professors that stand out in CW's mind.  Dean Harry Richards; others.  Chaperons at law fraternity parties.  Stories of some professors.

00:58:38	Law students expected to wear suits and ties to class.

00:59:31	Time spent with law professors.

01:01:20	How CW got a job after graduation.

01:03:43	Camaraderie of UW graduates.

01:05:04	Effects of Black Friday.  Where CW was; his reaction.  The Westrings were really not affected.

01:07:23	When the Depression was finally called "The Depression."

01:09:16	The Experimental College.  Feeling that is was too far out.

01:11:44	Story of DW almost flunking out and meeting Dean Narden.  Narden held in high regard.

01:14:58	The Westrings' impression of The Daily Cardinal.  Other campus publications.

01:17:49	President Glenn Frank.  An aristocratic man.  False belief that he was Jewish.  Why the UW attracts more Jewish students than other Big Ten schools.

01:20:59	The UW's reputation.  Ultra-liberals and radicals a very small minority back in the 1920s and 1930s.

01:22:17	More on Frank.  Story of appearance by Charles Lindbergh at a graduation ceremony.

01:25:10	The State Legislature and the UW.

01:26:34	The Wisconsin Idea.

01:27:32	DW's correspondence with Otto.  A letter Otto wrote to DW; he wrote of religion and belief in God.  Pamphlet Otto sent DW.

01:32:38	Bathtub gin at the UW.  Alcohol and grape juice ("Lavender Lady") a popular, if not good tasting, drink.

01:33:37	End of interview.

End of Oral History #375