UC Berkeley to Launch ‘Nonpartisan’ Nancy Pelosi Institute

UC Berkeley announced that it is joining forces with Nancy Pelosi, “the first female speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, to launch a new, nonpartisan institute dedicated to strengthening American democracy and advancing solutions to the country’s most pressing challenges.”

A “nonpartisan” institute? Is this a joke?

“The Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy, or NPI, will be a hub for research, teaching and civic engagement rooted in a shared commitment to advancing the public good. Through faculty research initiatives, undergraduate courses and a visiting fellows program, the institute will explore what impedes progress and how best to solve political problems, from polarization to the future of artificial intelligence.”

Pelosi will explore “how best to solve political problems,” like “polarization?” The first thought that came to mind was when in 2020, Pelosi led Congressional Democrats taking a knee while wearing Kente cloth scarves and face masks in tribute to George Floyd, a career criminal with a criminal record that included eight convictions between 1997 and 2005, including drug dealing, theft, and aggravated robbery. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) read the names of “unarmed” Black people killed by police.

Pelosi said what excites her the most is that the institute will be nonpartisan.

Really? Who is she kidding?

“Pelosi, the first Californian to serve as House speaker, is slated to co-teach a course about Congress,” UC Berkeley says. Pelosi ran the House ruthlessly. Maybe she should teach a ruthless leadership course instead.

“The institute’s work will focus 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 institute will be “ensuring political leadership that represents the full spectrum of perspectives and backgrounds in California and the country.”

Right… as if Nancy ever considered the full spectrum of perspectives and backgrounds… ever.

“You can’t be partisan in the academic world,” Pelosi said, framing the institute as focused on civics, the founders’ vision, and democracy—describing it as “more sacred” than daily politics.

Her institute will be at UC Berkeley – not exactly a bastion of nonpartisanship.

Minding the Campus also questioned the “nonpartisan” claim, and said “students should ask Pelosi why she fought the Supreme Court’s ban on race-conscious admissions, and why in 2020 she endorsed California’s Prop 16, which sought to overturn Prop 209 and would have restored racial preferences in hiring, contracting, and college admissions.”

As the Globe just reported, The Pelosi’s estimated net worth is $636 million as of July 2026. Nancy Pelosi clearly enriched herself and her husband over 40 years in Congress. She first entered the House of Representatives in June 1987.

During her second speakership, the nonpartisan Nancy Pelosi impeached President Donald Trump twice, contributed to the passage of the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, leading to the U.S. printing approximately $3.3 trillion in 2020, increasing inflation as never before.

The Pelosi institute has received more than $35 million in philanthropic commitments, primarily earmarked for a permanent endowment. Officials set a $50 million fundraising goal, including donations from Pelosi and others. It includes an exhibit on her career, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Here is Nancy discussing her new nonpartisan institute at UC Berkeley: