Campus Watch: Transgender bathrooms and a Flea at USC

Flea attends USC

College students know what it means to temper dreams of stardom with levelheaded practicality.

Yet this year, a handful of University of Southern California students aspiring to work alongside musical icons are experiencing a dream come true.

Michael Balzary from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, nicknamed Flea for his energetic, erratic behavior, is living up to this title by entering USC as a freshman this year at age 45.

By all rights, the bassist should be teaching music rather than learning it. With his distinctive ability to contrive stylized jams and dynamic riffs, Balzary is recognized as one of the most talented bass players in the world.

According to an interview with the LA Times, the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist is taking a class in musical theory, composition and jazz trumpet.

“In jazz trumpet, I’m improvising over jazz changes and getting comfortable with that,” said Balzary.

Perhaps Balzary’s choice to study the trumpet at this point in his career comes as a surprise, but the decision is no departure from the norm. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Web site alludes to the trumpet as Balzary’s first love, and jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie as his childhood idol.

In response to critics baffled by his belated return to school, Balzary cites curiosity, not commerce, as incentive for education. “My whole musical life has been an educational process and I’m just furthering my education and filling in the blanks,” he said. “There’s stuff that I want to know that I don’t know.”

Transgender bathrooms proliferate

While bathrooms seem like an unlikely arena for advancing the cause of tolerance, that is precisely where it is being forged.

The University of Manchester in England is implementing transgender-friendly bathrooms. This simply means that signs denoting, “toilet with urinals” and “toilets” are being plastered over the traditional male and female figures on bathroom doors.

Student reactions have ranged from those who consider the signs ridiculous to those who sympathize with the broader message of gender equality.

The signs are part of a comprehensive plan to diminish discrimination on campus.

The proposal, called “Gender Equality Scheme,” states that its main objective is, “eliminating sexual discrimination in the University and the wider community.”

This is just the latest in a series of bathroom initiatives around the world to lessen sexuality-based discrimination.

Reach reporter Sara Grimes at news@dailyuw.com.