Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Leader of the House of Representatives, joined Andrew Card, former Republican White House chief of staff and Bush School acting dean, on the Texas A&M U. campus to discuss the role of women in politics.

Pelosi spoke Monday at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center at the George Bush Presidential Library Center. The first woman speaker of the House and California native made the trip to Texas on Presidents Day at the invitation of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation.

Roman Popadiuk, executive director of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation, explained the Bush Foundation’s desire to encourage meaningful dialogue through speaker invitations.

“One of the goals of the Library Center is to bring to public attention various views and opinions on the challenges facing our nation,” Popadiuk said. “In this regard, Leader Pelosi was invited by the Bush School to share her views on the current situation in Washington. Given the Bush School’s commitment to public service, Leader Pelosi … also discuss[ed] the importance of public service, which is a core belief of the A&M student body.”

Card moderated the conversation with Pelosi. Also present in the audience were former President George H. W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, former College Station Rep. Chet Edwards, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston.

The sold-out event commemorated Pelosi’s 25th year of service in the House of Represenatives representing San Francisco, California. Pelosi is the first woman in American history to lead a major political party in Congress.

Before the event started, students from Texas Aggie Conservatives stood outside the conference center to protest legislation advanced by Pelosi. They were outside as Pelosi and event attendees arrived. The protest involved street theater and protest signs with the goal of labeling Pelosi as a job killer.

One student, dressed as a grim reaper, held a poster reading, “Pelosi, Job Killer.”

“We aren’t protesting her coming or the Bush Foundation’s decision to invite her,” said Cary Chesire, protester and sophomore political science major. “We just want to engage her in a dialogue.”

As Card introduced Pelosi, he emphasized her family’s commitment to public service and Pelosi’s response to an invitation to run for her congressional seat in a special election after the illness of a friend.

“I may not share the partisanship or her philosophy,” Card said. “But I share the service she represents.”

Pelosi spoke about the courage it takes to be a leader and a public servant. She referenced President Bush, Gen. Earl Rudder, Robert Gates, Chet Edwards and other Aggies — notably the Aggie engineers whose work saved lives at the World War II battleground of Pointe Du Hoc.

The conversation focused on Pelosi’s ascent into the political world, her life as a woman in politics and as a representative of San Francisco.

In 2002, when Pelosi took her seat at a White House meting in the cabinet room, she said she finally realized what she was representing.

“I could hear [all of the women who have come before me] say, ‘At last, we have a seat at the table.'” Pelosi said.

Pelosi encouraged confidence and sharing individual perspective.

“Young women, be ready. Have confidence in who you are because no one is like you,” Pelosi said. “It really is urgent that women take responsibility for leadership and the decisions that have to be made for our country.”

The audience pre-submitted questions for Pelosi. The only question Card selected challenged the leader’s stance with contraception, faith and the Health and Human Services Act. Several student protestors held pro-life posters when Pelosi arrived at the event.

“The issue is about women’s health. Not contraception,” Pelosi said. “Family size and timing is an issue of each person’s conscience.”

Pelosi said 98 percent of Catholic women in childbearing years use contraception.

“There is a sisterhood of an understanding of this issue amongst women,” Pelosi said. “Everybody knows that the management of a family should respect the discretion of the mother. Why should the federal government enforce something that the church couldn’t even enforce?”

Students from the Bush School in attendance said they were pleased with the candor of Pelosi’s message.

“I was pleasantly surprised,” said Taylor Davis, public service and administration graduate student said. “I don’t agree on her policy, but as a woman, she is very inspirational.”

Sarah Saunders, international affairs graduate student, said it was a great opportunity for the Bush School to be highlighted in this event with a person of a different ideology.

“As a woman wanting a career in public service, she really made it seem possible to still have a family. She was a wife and a mom first,” Davis said.