Pittsburgh Job Corps Center Harassment and Racism Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

I could spend DAYS talking about the ways the Pittsburgh Job Corps Center (PJCC) has infringed on my privacy, how the campus is mostly populated with ignorant racist people, and how the living conditions are likened to a low-budget prison (including the showers, only you get a thin curtain separating you from the rest of the bathroom), but I don't want to take up too much space.

Instead, I'll tell you about my worst 2 experiences: the person questions from a teacher, and the harassment by a staff member and subsequent dumping of my locker.

First, the teacher. For the most part, I liked Facilities Maintenance. The shop material was interesting, Mr. D was an excellent teacher, and there were some decent people in the shop. However. The other teacher, Mr. Z, was always asking me personal questions and making remarks about me, including "Why are you so tired? Were you up late talking to some boy?" "What's the matter? Are you grumpy cause of some boy?" and other remarks of the the kind. The one that took the cake, though, was "Are you pregnant?" after i asked for the key to the bathroom. 

None of these comments were wanted, I had not made conversation with him regrading anything but shop, and i had asked him to stop asking personal questions many times. Several students in the class heard it, and said they would testify to it if asked. The question about my being pregnant was really the last straw, so i went to the center discipline office and filed a report. I talked to several of the staff in the office, and they all told me that I wasn't the first to complain. They told me something would be done.

Nothing happened. He didn't get in trouble, he didn't get fired, he didn't get suspended, NOTHING. I asked the disciplinary staff, and they said that nothing had been done yet that they knew of. I was on campus for 4 months after the incident, and it was still not resolved when I left. What's more, the remarks continued, but with less frequency. Instead of daily, it was weekly. They didn't even ask the other students about it. NOTHING HAPPENED.

Now, you might have thought that was pretty sketchy. Wait til you hear about the harassment i received throughout my entire 9 months at PJCC. 

Most people who went to PJCC remember Mrs. Hefflin. Mrs. Hefflin was in charge of all the dorms on campus. She made sure they were to "code" and was in charge of resolving all dorm problems (broken heaters, broken windows, etc.).

My harassment started within the second month after I moved in. For some reason, if i vacuumed the room, i "hadn't vacuumed". I constantly received notices about my room being "filthy" for things like a sock misplaced un the desk, of a cup of water next to my bed, or a gum wrapper in the corner. Other rooms had worse problems that were "overlooked". I was prohibited from leaving the dorm floor or leaving campus for things like not having my shoes perfectly in line under my bed, while other girls (BIG SURPRISE, they were black and I am white) left their things around their rooms and were not disciplined at all. 

Now, all of that could be attributed to racism, but other white girls weren't treated the way I was by this woman. I was the only one, out of all the girls AND boys on the center. I asked around to see if anyone else was being bullied or picked on, but no one had known anyone who was being treated the was I was.

Well, you might think that Mrs. Hefflin was pretty evil already if you went to PJCC, but let me tell you about how I got "kicked out" of PJCC. 

At PJCC, you have a locker and a lock. you keep all your belongings in this locker, and usually they are FILTHY. Make-up smeared everywhere, bobby pins, hair, weave, extensions, dirty clothes, and even the occasional used tampon were left in them for you to find from the previous occupant.

One week, I moved to a new room. I cleaned it out as best i could, and went home to next weekend and brought back some better cleaning supplies. some rags, perfumes to make it smell nice, and a razor to scrape the out stickers and gunk off the mirror. My plan was to scrape the gunk off, and throw the razor away. During this time, Mrs. Hefflin decided that my locker needed an "overhaul". She told the RA to help me clean the locker and make sure it stayed clean. While cleaning the locker, the RA, who was friendly with me, found the razor. I told her why i had it, and she told me she wouldn't file a report, but would write a small note of it in the log and throw it away. Little did i know, Mrs. Hefflin decided to read through the log that night, and found out about it. She said that i was not allowed to leave my room that night, and that i would be "dealt with" the next day. 

The next day, I was taken out of class and escorted to my room. She brought up a campus security officer, who opened my locker, dumped everything onto the floor, and dug through it. She checked under my mattress, in my desk, and looked in every page, every box, and every shoe while I sat on my bed, sobbing. As Mrs Hefflin put it, they had to make sure i didn't have "drugs, weapons, alcohol, porn, and anything else that YOU would HIDE", as if i were some kind of criminal. She even had the security officer pat me down and turn out my pockets.

I understand doing something like that if a student were reported to have an UZI and 3 kilos of coke in his locker, and was known for starting fights and hurting other students. That would have been a real concern, but i had never done anything wrong before that incident. Nothing like that had EVER been done to another student. Students who were found to have drugs or weapons were usually just made to pack their things and leave. If you had booze, they took it from you and gave you a lecture.

After they had dumped all my things on the floor and gone through them, I was told that my locker had to be "pristine and perfect" or i would be thrown off campus. I was also not allowed to leave my room unless I had to use the restroom, and I would be watched to make sure I only went to the bathroom and back. Luckily, I had help from the RA (who i guess felt bad about what had happened) in making sure it was clean enough, and they approved it. 

I was lucky enough to have several other staff member intervene on my behalf so that I wasn't kicked out immediately, but I was forced to complete my training within 2 weeks without learning some material. I did and got my certification and completion check, but i still wonder if it was worth it.

In short, DON'T GO THERE unless you are willing to put up with racist staff, racist students, and a whole lot of other trouble.