Observations While Working at Purchase - Anonymous employee Purchase College Employee Review

- For some positions, especially entry level and mid-level positions in residence life/community engagement, there is a five-year term limit for employees in those jobs. If the employee does not have a position on/after the last day of the employee's fifth year of your employment within the same position, then the employee is let go. The employee receives what is known as a "year and 45", which refers to a notice of the employee being "let go" within one year and forty-five days of the employee's eventual "release" from the institution within that position. The five year limit does not apply if it is either not specified in the employee's contract, negotiated between the manager and HR, or necessarily if the employee takes on a new position at the college. If the employee takes on a new position that has a five-year limit, then the five-year mark begins on the first day of the new position. -There is a lot of stalemated bureaucracy (as with in any institution). This is true throughout the institution, no matter the division. Most of the upper administration has been at Purchase for a while. In fact, quite a few of them graduated from Purchase for their bachelor's and master's. With regards to upper administration and qualifications (on the non-academic side), there is not much regard for those. In the upper administration it is more based on how much the person is ingrained at the institution rather than what the candidate's pertinent experiences, education background, or other experience may be. This can create quite a challenging situation for a new professional, faculty member, etc. who is not familiar with the institution.