Last Friday actor Kal Penn, best known for his role as Kumar from the Harold & Kumar movies, came to CMU campus to speak with students about the upcoming presidential election.

Penn shared with students some of his own experiences and why it is important to become politically involved. Penn shared a story about one of his friends who needed to choose between buying textbooks or eyeglasses since he did not have enough financial aid or healthcare to afford both.

“These were sort of wake up calls because I thought whether we had a democrat or republican in the white house before, no one took college affordability seriously or health care seriously.” Penn said. “If they did, my friends wouldn’t have these problems.”

For many students seeing Penn talk about politics was abnormal, but he was able to clear up any doubts regarding his political reputation. Penn explained how he became involved with the community in 2007 by working for the president’s campaign and later found work in the White House working in youth outreach.

“After he (Barack Obama) won I got this phone call that said, ‘look you have been working on youth outreach, you know the president’s policies and you know what he wants to achieve’,” Penn said. “‘How would you feel about doing the same thing you did on the campaign except in the White House?’ What was I going to say, ‘No I got another stoner movie to make.’”

Although Penn’s reputation as a marijuana-smoking comedian is how he is best recognized, he was able to provide some intellectual insight into the upcoming election and stressed the importance of voting on Election Day.

“One of the big reasons we came out this time was the stakes of the election,” Penn said. “The majority of young people in 2008, whether they were young progressives or young evangelical conservatives, the five top issues were: jobs in the economy, access to education, poverty, climate change, and Darfur. This time around the stakes are a little bit different. Governor Romney and President Obama have very different proposals. Their budgets are completely different.”

Penn shared his own democratic viewpoint but still made it clear that as a youth outreach speaker, he encouraged all the students to make the decision best suited for them regardless of political standpoint.

“The president was very serious about making sure that everyone who was working for him, particularly in the outreach side, was meeting equally with young progressives and young conservatives about the things that mattered to them, whether they agreed with the president or not,” Penn said. “At least to make sure they knew what his priorities were so that they could sort of make their voices heard.”

Penn concluded his speech by again encouraging all students to vote. He let students know that even if they do not have much knowledge about the election, they can educate themselves by visiting www.factcheck.org for further information.

armartinez2@mavs.coloradomesa.edu