Kumar goes to the White House

Kal Penn holds degrees in film and sociology from the University of California - Los Angeles, and has starred in television shows 24 and House, M.D., as well as movies such as Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and The Namesake. Over the last couple of months, he has taken on a new role as a volunteer for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), making appearances across the nation in support of the Obama campaign.

On Thursday, Penn looked out over the crowded room in McGuinn Hall, and said, "In terms of crowd size you guys completely trample the little event we did at [Boston University] earlier."

Penn addressed the sense of alienation that affects many young voters. He spoke of a friend in Texas who worked a minimum wage job in the hope of saving money for college. One day, Penn said, his friend received a call from Halliburton, the Houston-based corporation that holds a number of government defense contracts. Penn's friend was asked if he would be interested in driving trucks in Iraq for $90,000 a year. The friend decided not to take the job, and has still not been able to attend college.

Penn's political cynicism grew, but he began to look for someone who would address these issues.

Penn said that Obama's speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention was a turning point for him. He said that his reactions were strong: "When is this guy going to run for president? Who is this?" he said.

Penn said that, after researching Obama further, he spent two days in Iowa performing volunteer work for the campaign. Inspired by the commitment of the volunteers, he decided to become further involved.

"We finally have someone to rally behind," Penn said.

Joshua Darr, director of BC Students for Barack Obama, organized Penn's appearance.

"The campaign contacted me on Monday and said, 'We'd like to have Kal Penn on campus on Thursday, can you set that up?'" Darr said. "We were very pleasantly surprised," Darr said of the turnout.

BC Students for Barack Obama started out as a Facebook group, a tool that Darr said has been very helpful in spreading awareness of Obama's campaign to students.

"Obama's message definitely resonates with college students," Darr said. "Barack Obama is a new kind of leadership, a new kind of politics."

Penn echoed the sentiment. He fielded a number of questions regarding Obama's stance on issues from the environment to the war in Iraq, as well as his experience. "I think it is an important question to ask, what kind of experience someone brings to the table," Penn said. "You're seeing someone who hasn't had just a kind of experience, but a way and an approach."

Obama spent time as a constitutional law professor, civil rights activist, and grassroots organizer, Penn said.

He spoke of Obama's effort to build coalitions between Democrats and Republicans to address such issues as the genocide in Darfur, issues sometimes obscured by the rhetoric of polarization.

"This is someone who was a grassroots organizer … a professor," Penn said. "I think it would be refreshing to have a president who actually read the Constitution."

Though Penn and the other Obama volunteers present answered many questions about Obama's platform, students were given the opportunity to write down additional questions along with their e-mail address to receive further information.

Penn also agreed to sign a student's copy of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle after he answered his question about Obama's economic policy.

"The most encouraging thing about the Kal Penn event was that every single question he answered was substantive," Darr said.

Penn spoke about the effect that young people have had on the world, particularly citing the influence of Facebook and YouTube.

Both founded by young adults, these sites have yielded tremendous profits and have had significant cultural effects.

Penn said that whereas the profits of past generations often came with negative social and environmental implications, these products have had no such effects.

"Our generation has created billions of dollars just by sitting in front of our computers … our hands are clean," Penn said.

"We've made billions for the Facebook and the Myspace guys, and it would be great to do something for our friends in Texas who still can't afford college."