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Actor activism comes to Xavier

Madeline LaFave
Copy Editor

On Thursday, Feb. 21 Kal Penn and Nick Cannon visited Xavier University to speak on behalf of presidential hopeful Barack Obama. The Xavier Newswire’s A&E Editor Emily Hoferer was able to score two short interviews with the celebs to discuss politics.

Xavier Newswire: So why Obama?
Kal Penn: (laughs) That’s broad. Well, that question presumes that I was trying to decide on somebody to support and chose him. But my story is a little bit different than that.

A couple of years ago a friend of mine was making minimum wage trying to save money for college. He got a phone call from a company saying they’d pay him $90 grand to drive a truck for a year in Iraq for the private sector. In that moment a lot of my friends realized that something needed to change. If a kid in the world’s richest country could only get two options to go to college: minimum wage or $90,000 in a war zone, then there’s something wrong.

I’ve realized in the last 20 years we’ve had two families in the White House and nothing changed. That experience made me feel like there’s something wrong and focusing on the negative and voting for the lesser of two evils every four years in November is just not good enough. Someone like Sen. Obama, who isn’t just inspiring, though obviously he is, has the track record to back it up.

XN: Have you done this before?
KP: No, not for anybody else. I signed up to be a surrogate in October and in November I started going out and doing these benefits on behalf of the Senator.

XN: People always say that young people are so apathetic in college. What is your response to that?
KP: The great thing about that is that it’s just not true. If you look at the state of Iowa, in 2004 the average age of voters in Iowa was 65. Young folks just didn’t vote. They compromised something like 4 percent of the overall electorate. Now that number has increased 150 percent. People can no longer say that we don’t vote because we’re coming out in huge numbers. You see this huge student momentum that’s grown into a national momentum for Sen. Obama and you realize exactly where the root of it is.

We’ve been told for so long that we can’t do something. We’ve been told we can’t help our parents as they get older, we can’t save the environment, we can’t give our friends access to education, but what’s been inspiring to me is to see every single voice in a place like this rises up, together, and actually say “yes we can.” It’s not a talking point or a campaign slogan; it really is a movement.

XN: Is this the first time that you’ve been inspired by politics or inspired to become involved in politics?
Nick Cannon: My first time being inspired by the political ideas was in school. Political science was always an interest of mine, but when I did a film a few years ago called “Bobby” and got a chance to kind of do some research in the world of 1968 and the Kennedys, and I saw that it was truly a time when people our age were getting involved and changing things and wanting to be a part of change.

I felt like it was time for us to do the same thing. The baton has been passed. That put the fire up under me to stand for something. When you can find an empowering candidate like Obama who, to me, is on the same level as the Kennedys or Dr. King where, it’s someone you can really rally behind and say wow, I believe what this man is saying and I can ride with him.

XN: Have you been to college campuses before? Is this a tour for you guys?
NC: Yeah, we went to South Carolina, did a couple of things in California. We’re on a tour of inspiration.

XN: How does Barack Obama speak to you personally as a person who can vote?
NC: I feel his honesty and integrity, and I feel he is a very straightforward man and believes what he says. He clearly has passion for the people. His idealism, his optimism is something that has been vacant in our system for so long and he brings a new, refreshing idea.

XN: If you could say anything to encourage people to vote, what would you say?
NC: Vote! It’s just as simple as that. Exercise your right. A lot of times we can get caught up in voting on American Idol or TRL. We can do those things all day but when actually it comes down to the issues we say that they aren’t talking to me, that’s for my parents. But truly we are the ones that make those decisions and we are the ones that it affects the most because we have to live with those things. So I always encourage people to exercise their right. People gave their blood, sweat and tears for us to have these rights. We gotta do it.

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College Republicans rally behind McCain

Stephanie Metz
Senior News Editor

Although Democrats must wait for the results of upcoming primaries to learn who their official candidate will be, Republicans have ample time to acquaint themselves with John McCain’s platform. As Democrats debate the politics and platforms of the Clinton and Obama campaigns and rally around their choice, Steve Newsome, Co-Chair of XU College Republicans, acknowledges that for Republicans “there’s not a lot going on right now, since we know who the candidate will be.” Members of XU College Republicans participated in a McCain rally at an Over-the-Rhine polling place Tuesday with approximately 1,000 other supporters. College Republicans will also support their party by staffing phone banks on behalf of McCain.

Newsome stated the club is beginning to discuss and plan several events for next August when the election campaign truly gets underway. In the meantime, College Republicans are also working for local candidates such as Jean Schmit, Congresswoman for District 2, and Steve Chabot, Congressman for District 1, by campaigning door to door as well as making phone calls to registered voters to garner support.

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Police Notes

Feb. 21, 2:45 a.m.- A student who caused damage to a Xavier- owned vacant property was apprehended and will face disciplinary action.

Feb. 23, 1:20 a.m.- Campus Police assisted Cincinnati Police in apprehending a driver on Dana Avenue wanted for a hit and run on Reading Road.

Feb. 23, 2:40 a.m.- A student observed urinating near the entrance to an apartment in the Village was cited for disorderly behavior.

Feb. 24, 1:50 a.m.- A student walking through the O’Connor Sports Center lot with an open container was cited for underage consumption.

Feb. 24, 2:03 a.m.- Campus Police and Residence Life investigated a report of the smell of marijuana coming from a room on the fourth floor of Kuhlman Hall. A room search was conducted and several items of contraband and a small amount of marijuana were confiscated.

Feb. 24, 4:47 a.m.- Campus Police investigated a report of two students fighting in a residence hall.

Feb. 25, 12:48 a.m.- A non-student sitting in a car with a broken window in the C-1 lot was arrested on an outstanding warrant.

Police Note of the Week

Feb. 19, 8:25 a.m.- An employee reported that a garbage can was damaged by a small fire in the garbage room of Brockman Hall.

 Briefs

Meghan Berneking 
Campus News Editor

Irish Music

Ireland in Word and Music II will be performing at 2 p.m. on Sun., March 2 in the Long Recital Room of Edgecliff Hall. The program will include readings from Irish literature plus Celtic music. Attendees are asked to make a contribution for the work of Fr. Joe Mulligan, S.J., in Nicaragua. Contact Joe Wessling at wessling@xavier.edu.

Running for SGA?

Anyone who is interested in running for the 2008-2009 Student Government Association Senate must attend one of the informational meetings being held Wed., Feb. 27 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. or Thurs., Feb. 28 at 11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. in GSC 210. Contact Katy Baldwin, Board of Elections chair, at baldwink@xu.edu for more information.