News > September 4, 2008

By Kara Peruccio | Life editor

On Aug. 30, campus group Wake for Change hosted actor Kal Penn who spoke on behalf of Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama. Held in Pugh Auditorium, all 275 seats were filled as many students waited to hear Penn of Harold and Kumar Go to Whitecastle fame.

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Students met with Kal Penn on Aug. 30. Penn, an Independent, discussed his support for Obama and why young people should vote. (Photo courtesy of North Carolina for Change)

While many had come because of the actor’s popularity, there was also a good number of students sporting Obama T-shirts and carrying signs. Before the event, Forsyth Country field organizer and Winston-Salem native, Rob Huber, told the crowd of ways to get involved, including, registering to vote in North Carolina, attending events hosted by Wake for Change and a text message program unique to the university campus. By texting WF to “62262” students will receive messages about Obama events happening on campus.

Penn introduced himself as a surrogate for the Obama campaign and confessed that he had never done anything like public speaking before now. Penn commented that he, in past elections, has voted for as many Republicans as he had Democrats and third party candidates.

Penn said that he was speaking because four years ago, a friend of his working a minimum wage job received a job offer from Halliburton to drive a truck in Iraq for $90,000. The friend was torn because he needed money for college but was unsure of going into a war zone. Penn said his friend’s job offer even made him more cynical, because despite living in one of the most prosperous nations, someone has to choose between a minimum wage job and going to Iraq to pay for college.

Four weeks later while watching the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Penn remembered hearing a “skinny guy with big ears” talk about the need for a United States, not red or blue. Penn said following the speech he said that “this guy needs to run for president.”

After looking at the Obama platform, Penn was impressed by Obama’s background as a community organizer and as a professor of constitutional law. He commented that it would be nice to have a president who actually read the Constitution. Penn was attracted to the Obama campaign because of the $4,000 tax credit for people to go to college.

This money could significantly help his friend and other students pay tuition. After reviewing Obama’s platform on his web site, Penn was impressed by his opposition to the war and his environmental and business ratings.

Penn decided to fill out a card and volunteered to go door-to-door and make phone calls. Before the Iowa primary, Penn said he planned on going for three days.

He moved to Iowa for a month and a half. He was impressed by the diversity of volunteers: half were registered Democrats and the other a mixture of Republicans and Independents.

While volunteering in Iowa, Penn heard two sets of stories. One CNN-type story stated that 18-34 year olds won’t vote.

However, contradictory stories were emerging that YouTube, MySpace and Facebook were mobilizing youth voters. Penn cited that Facebook was recently valued at $1.6 billion; he commented that if Americans can make billions of dollars in wealth for people by sitting at their computer, they have the power to change the face of the election and politics.

The youth vote proved to be critical in the Iowa primary. In 2004, the average voting age was 65 years; in 2008 youth voting increased 150 percent.

Penn said the pattern of increased youth voting is apparent in many other states; he cited from 2000 to this year, the youth vote in Florida increased 300 percent.

Following his speech, he answered students’ questions, ranging from the juvenile (“How many Whitecastle burgers have you eaten?”) to the serious (“Will the $4,000 credit actually put people in college?”). Penn admitted that it will not solve $32,000 tuition, but for many students it will begin to make a dent in student loans. Another student asked about people being registered in parties because of their family’s beliefs.

Penn said that voters have the right to vote for who they want and if they want to, they can always reregister. He also believes that many of the issues facing us today transcend party lines such gas prices.

One student inquired as to how Penn believes Obama will work with the other party should he be elected president. Penn thinks will help him in crossing party lines.

He shared a story that before Obama appeared onstage after winning Iowa, he told volunteers how proud he was of college students for coming out to vote. Obama wasn’t just happy because they helped him win, but because statistics have proven that if someone starts voting early, they will vote for the rest of their lives.

When the Old Gold & Black spoke with Penn following the event, he said that the underlying issue that college students need to be aware of is how much power they have to change the election. “Part of the problem is that we’ve been told for so long that we can’t do things; that we have no power, which is not true,” Penn said.

“We’ve got those numbers; so no matter whether you are a Democrat or Republican or Independent, there’s a lot of power we have simply registering to vote.”

The OGB also inquired what Penn’s thoughts were for sustaining the youth vote following the election.

“Senator Obama is saying things like ‘I’m not just asking you to believe in abilities to change Washington; I’m asking you to believe in yours. He’s calling out for us to do our part. It’s not something we ever hear politicians say very often,” Penn said.

“My hope is that whoever wins the next election that call to action is something that can stay with us.”

Penn’s presentation is one of many events that Wake for Change will be hosting this fall in hopes of reaching Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike in keeping an open mind and making sure that the university community is educated about the upcoming election.

The 275 audience members, regardless if they came only to see “Kumar,” hopefully took something back from the Independent’s speech about believing in a cause and hoping to bring change to the United States.