Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi Is the Wrong Namesake for Berkeley's 'Institute for Representative Democracy'

If you want to devote an institute to "strengthening America's democratic institutions," you shouldn't name it for someone who degraded the public's trust in those institutions.

Ari Shtein | 7.1.2026 12:00 PM

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The University of California, Berkeley, announced on Monday its plan to launch the new Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy (NPI). It will open next January, coinciding with Pelosi's retirement from a near-40-year career in the House of Representatives, including two four-year stints as Speaker.

The NPI will serve as a nonpartisan "hub for research, teaching and civic engagement," according to the U.C. Berkeley announcement, resting on four pillars: "strengthening America's democratic institutions; overcoming America's greatest challenges for our society, economy and planet; promoting human rights and civil rights at home and abroad; and ensuring political leadership that represents the full spectrum of perspectives and backgrounds in California and the country."

Pelosi's involvement with the NPI will not be limited to the superficial: She is slated to co-teach a course on the history of the U.S. Congress next spring.

But, of course, even to name a nonpartisan........

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