Let the Record Show: Columnist, Moot Court competitor and mother revisits perfectionin 1974
Hastings Law News student columnist Priscilla Wheeler ’75 reconsidered Wonder Woman as a feminist icon, writing in a Sept. 10, 1974, column that “many women are tired of having to be superwoman in order to just be considered in the running.”
Wheeler’s column, called “Women,” appears to have begun in 1973. She had a daughter who was a toddler when she began law school in 1972.
In “Wonder Woman Revisited/Or Not Everyone Can Throw a Golden Lasso,” Wheeler wrote that “Perhaps a better symbol for feminism would be the earthy, less than perfect Ms. Caucus of Doonsbury fame. She’s a woman and feminist; one who has made mistakes and knows it. She will make more mistakes and she knows that too. … Ms. Caucus is a very human type person. She’s basically the kind of woman we are at Hastings.”
The issues she examined in her column — exactly 50 years ago —remain salient today.
Wheeler exemplified success while overcoming very human challenges. In October 1974, she represented the College at the National Moot Court Competition regional event in Los Angeles. Along with Ken Paterson, she had been chosen to present oral arguments, and the team finished second at the competition – an outcome not without controversy.
HLN reported that Priscilla fought through a cold and unfavorable judges’ rulings at the competition. The latter twice gave the University of Southern California more time for their rebuttal in the narrow defeat.
In her Sept. 10 column, she continued: “Maybe we don’t need to be perfect to do something for ourselves and something for other women too. So what’s the point? The point is that Hastings needs all its women with all their differences and imperfections.”
Let the Record Show is occasional series that showcases people, moments, and milestones from 鶹Ƶ Law San Francisco’s past.