Zhane Yamin

On Monday April 13, the University of Michigan hosted a preview day for the Center for American Dialogue. The project, announced in December 2024, is one of the latest installments in a growing trend among higher education — centers and programs that aim to improve the current state of dialogue in today’s hyperpolarized America.

In East Hall, tucked into a corner on the third floor of the Psychology Atrium, sits a beautiful baby grand. Its harmonies are coherent and clean, its notes reverberate throughout the expanse of the atrium and its timbre is mature and resolute. I think it is the best place to play the piano on campus. There is one issue, though. One of the keys, the G-sharp in the second octave, is out of tune. That happens to be my favorite note and the most important note in the songs I love to play.

Ask the average campus-conscious University of Michigan student what they think about Central Student Government and they might say CSG is full of pre-political LARPers and out-of-touch leftist activists who sit around and pass resolutions all day to no avail. They wouldn’t be entirely wrong.