In the Age of Social Media, are reunions still necessary? Read--and listen to our audio file--for alumni comments
By Lucianna Ciccocioppo
On a spectacular fall evening in downtown Toronto, an energy was reverberating from the Faculty of Law on October 19, where more than 300 alumni gathered to catch up with classmates for Reunion 2012. Celebrating years ending in ‘2’ and ‘7’, a stand-up reception kicked off the class year dinners on October 19-20, 2012, which were spread across the city’s fine dining venues.
A special congratulatory shout-out goes to the Class of 1957, which celebrated its 55th anniversary.
For many alumni, Reunion is a wonderful way to reconnect with law school colleagues, back where it all started. But in this Age of Social Media, we inquired of our illustrious alumni: are reunions still necessary?
“I do believe reunions are still necessary in the age of social media,” says William Lumsden, Class of 2007, “because nothing beats face-to-face contact. As humans, I believe, that’s how we connect. At work, I prefer meetings to email.”
Haiyan Wang, Class of 2002, agrees. “Email, BlackBerries, smartphones—despite these technologies, people still want the human touch. Even these days I still don’t like answering machines!”
For Eunice Machado, JD 2002, social media may help people keep connections, but it doesn’t mean people are actually sharing their life stories.
“I came to Reunion because I wanted to see everyone I stressed out with for three years. It’s always fascinating to find out how everyone has gone their different ways, whether they are still practicing law, or practicing in a different area of law. It’s great to hear how everyone has found their niche.”
Class of 1977 reunion organizer, Mitchell Wolfe, adds social media might make it easier to locate classmates, but he prefers organizing by holding meetings. “Our earlier reunions involved meeting constantly because we didn’t have email. We had to ask people who they kept in touch with, who had phone numbers, and we connected the old-fashioned way--by telephone.”
Hear more comments in our Reunion 2012 audio file, from alumni Rob Becker, Nina Gandhi, Mitchell Wolfe, Andrea Vabalis and Howard Levitt.
View our photo gallery here.
Photos: Jeff Kirk
