Nancy Pelosi's next challenge: Building a nonpartisan democracy institute at UC Berkeley

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who has served nearly 40 years in Congress to become one of its most influential power brokers, on Monday announced who she will take on when she leaves office in January: UC Berkeley students.

The Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy, to be launched with tens of millions of dollars in gifts from Pelosi and other donors, will seek to bring leading scholars to campus, cultivate students' ambitions for public service, and position itself as a Bay Area counterweight to major university political institutes that frequently attract former members of Congress and White House staff.

Pelosi (D-San Francisco) joins a long tradition of political figures anchored to universities. Harvard's Institute of Politics, founded in 1966 in memory of President Kennedy, is among the best-known. USC's Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics carries the name of California's longtime Assembly speaker. Stanford's Hoover Institution has housed former secretaries of State and national security advisors for decades.

At a university famous for its role in left-wing activism during the 1960s free speech movement and anti-Vietnam War protests, Pelosi vows to promote a nonpartisan academic endeavor.

"The work of democracy is never finished, and securing its future is our greatest calling," Pelosi said in an interview with The Times. She described the move as a purposeful departure from the "partisan political arena" to create a space where Republicans and Democrats — including, potentially, Trump-aligned figures — can deliberate and study the American political tradition.

Pelosi, who made history as the first female speaker of the House, said her mission is to ensure students understand what the founders built, which she believes is now under threat.

"The separation of powers is the beauty, exquisite beauty of the Constitution. Of course, that's in disarray right now," she said, in reference to her persistent criticisms of President Trump. The framers of the Constitution "did not want a tyrant, a monarch, a demagogue."

The institute, anchored in UC Berkeley's Charles and Louise Travers Department of Political Science, plans to reach 500 students a year via an eventual dozen or more course offerings open to undergraduates across majors. In the spring, Pelosi will co-teach a course on Congress with Berkeley political scientist Eric Schickler, who co-directs the Institute for Governmental Studies.

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• How will the institute ensure nonpartisanship in its programs?
• Who are the expected visiting fellows at the institute?
• What courses will the Pelosi Institute offer to students?

The Pelosi Institute will also host two visiting fellows per year — drawn from politics and public policy fields — and support faculty research on policies related to climate change, wealth inequality, electoral reforms that could reduce polarization, criminal justice, and whether artificial intelligence can strengthen democracy.

The center will also host an annual forum and establish a public exhibit on Pelosi's congressional career.

The former House speaker said she envisions the institute as a two-way exchange. She would offer her on-the-job experience and political network to Berkeley while "learning from the students and from the faculty about what we should be talking about as we go forward" in politics.

Pelosi — a San Francisco Democrat with one of the longest tenures in the House who, over the last decade, became one of the strongest voices opposed to Trump — presents a branding challenge for a campus and academic center with nonpartisan missions.

In an interview, UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons was unambiguous: "Full stop, this is going to be a nonpartisan institute. The fact that we are public means the standard is even higher."

'A departure' from partisan politics

Pelosi said she is largely handing over the keys to managing the institute and its programming to Berkeley, while lending her name, congressional expertise and contacts to foster its growth. On whether figures from the Trump administration might be invited as visiting fellows, Pelosi was cautious, but did not rule it out.

"I'm just not that impressed with this Cabinet right now, but that doesn't mean because it's Republican," she said. "You never know... We never thought that one of our champions of democracy would be [former Vice President] Mike Pence until he was."

The representative who led two Trump impeachments is building an institution whose credibility depends, in part, on her ability to separate her political views from its programming. She acknowledged the tension.

"I concede this as a departure from the partisan political arena," Pelosi said. "I think the value of being associated with an academic institution, instead of just having my own foundation to do things, is that it would be nonpartisan. I think there's so much strength in that."

It is not Pelosi's first foray into academic life. She and her husband, Paul Pelosi — a Georgetown alumnus — established the Paul F. Pelosi Scholars Initiative at Georgetown's Walsh School of Foreign Service in 2018, which supports students pursuing public service careers.

But the Berkeley institute will be her most ambitious academic commitment. Of the $50-million fundraising goal, $35 million has been raised. Pelosi declined to say how much of it she contributed.

Pelosi, 86, first won election to Congress in 1987, and is one of San Francisco's most well-known residents. She plans to remain in the city and will commute to Berkeley.

The nonpartisan aim, Lyons acknowledged, will require vigilance at an institution that has strong political associations. "We have to separate Berkeley from the caricature of Berkeley that some people had in their mind 60 years ago," he said.

Scott Straus, chair of the UC Berkeley Political Science department, said the political balance of the visiting fellows program is open and that "a range of political perspectives" is "definitely our goal."

'Professor' Pelosi's vision

Schickler, a political science professor and co-director of the Institute of Governmental Studies, will co-teach the Congress course with Pelosi beginning in spring 2027.

"Her vision for it was: this institute only succeeds if it empowers our department to do things that we want to do, but might not otherwise have the resources to do," he said.

Schickler said Pelosi's name has repeatedly surfaced in his classes as a case study in how to maneuver the body, such as her role in pushing for passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

He also pointed to the inequity the institute is designed to address: At elite private universities with similar institutes, students benefit from informal access to former officeholders and well-funded internship and job pipelines.

"At Berkeley," Schickler said, "resource constraints and the scale of Berkeley make it a little more challenging." Undergraduates who will come through the institute, he added, "aren't growing up as kids of the elites."

Pelosi said the institute will train advocates, organizers, and public servants of many stripes. "Anything we do in Congress has inside maneuvering," she said, "but without the outside mobilization, we've never been able to pass it or save it."

For her, the institute is also a legacy bid. Before stepping back from House Democratic leadership in 2022 and saying last year that she would not seek reelection, Pelosi faced pressure from younger Democrats who demanded new voices at the top. She considers the Berkeley partnership her investment in the future.

"As I look forward to seeing the incredible ideas and leaders that will emerge from this institute," Pelosi said, "I am thinking about the words embroidered in Abraham Lincoln's overcoat — 'One Country. One Destiny.'"

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.