Former ASUM president to lobby for UM in Helena

According to Dustin Leftridge, there’s at least one thing people learned about him during his term as ASUM president last year: “I look good in spandex,”
he said. 
At a fashion show organized by Students for Economic and Social Justice last February, Leftridge strutted across a runway in the UC clad in purple spandex pants and green underwear.
It’s an ensemble he probably won’t be wearing to his new job.
Leftridge, 23, will be the official student intern lobbying for the University of Montana in Helena during the 2009 legislative session, which begins Jan. 5.

“My big priority is to speak on behalf of the students here,” he said.
Though he knows he will work eight-hour days during the 90-day session, he said he won’t know many of the details of his job until he begins.
He will work alongside UM’s full-time lobbyist Bill Johnston.
Leftridge, who is a senior this year, will spend his spring semester in Helena. He intends to finish up the remaining academic credits he needs by taking a creative writing course online.
He plans to graduate with degrees in geology and political science, a combination that came about from the idea that the politicians who create policy don’t always consider scientific research, he said.
“A lot of times you see the development of policy and science not working together as harmoniously as some think it should,” he said.
Leftridge ran on what he described as a “green ticket” with former ASUM vice president Tara Ness when the two won the ASUM election in 2007. He has been involved with a number of sustainability efforts on campus.
“Dustin’s probably one of the most down-to-earth people I know,” Ness said. “He’s just really passionate about promoting change in the world.”
Ness said that while some people are involved in various activities for the sake of being involved, Leftridge sincerely wants to be a positive force in the world. She said that when he was the ASUM president, he would consult with all sides involved in a particular issue and seek advice before taking action.
“Every decision he made, he made with the up-most thought,” Ness said.
During Leftridge’s term, ASUM created the campus Sustainability Center and re-started the Off-Campus Renter Center. Leftridge and Ness also redesigned the ASUM Web site. In addition to expanding the number of services provided, they worked to make ASUM more accessible to students, Leftridge said.
“I poured my blood, sweat, tears and GPA into it,” Leftridge said. “It was a very rewarding year.”
Although he is transitioning from a position of sometimes holding the administration’s feet to the fire to working for the administration, Leftridge said there is not an underlying tension in his shift of responsibilities.
He said ASUM, the faculty and the administration usually have to work together to pass policies that affect the university.
“We’re all working toward the same thing, it’s just a matter of how we get there,” he said.
Leftridge was an ASUM senator for a year before he became the president.
“ASUM pretty much took up my collegiate career,” he said.
Aside from ASUM, Leftridge previously sat on the board of directors for the Montana Public Interest Research Group (MontPIRG).
In the summer Leftridge spends his time rafting, and this semester he is working as a driver for the UDASH bus system.
“I try to stay as active as possible, probably to the detriment of my GPA,” he said.
But, although Leftridge has taken on a range of responsibilities, Ness said he’s also a “geek” who enjoys playing board games and doesn’t take himself too seriously.
“He never turned down the opportunity to throw on purple spandex, to show a little skin,” she said.
allison.maier@umontana.edu