The American college reunion is a strange ritual. Universities and colleges invite alumni back to empty campuses for lavish lunches and parties, ostensibly to foster a deeper connection between them and their alma maters. Of course everyone knows the ultimate goal is to solicit donations, but even so, these events are popular, drawing people back to see old friends and access memories of what were, in retrospect, carefree years.
For those who left college in 2020, during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, this year marks the fifth since we graduated via Zooms and livestreams, often from our childhood bedrooms, parents’ basements or empty off-campus houses. Strange enough. But those of us who graduated in the class of 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania had another dissonance in common. We would be reuniting for the first time since it was revealed that our former classmate, Luigi Mangione, had been arrested and charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson.
The news last December — and the peculiar internet stardom for Mangione that followed — hit my class like a bomb. One classmate said that day was like her birthday. Everyone in her life texted her to ask how she was, and whether she knew him. I had a similar experience. My outdated iPhone was literally hot to the touch as family and friends reached out, and as text chains and group chats that had been dormant since college sprung back into life. In a way, it was a virtual reunion.