Love the work, love the benefits, hate the bureaucracy
Pros
Tulane offers extensive benefits - a tuition waiver is the best of them. Tulane also offers challenging and interesting work. I can't think of a position that would be afforded interesting opportunities at least sporadically if not regularly. The location is fabulous, the working conditions are very good and for the most part, the staff is congenial. There are plenty of benefits to employment at this university.
Cons
My experience has shown me that the biggest flaw of the academic administration of Tulane is unneeded bureaucracy. The structure of my department of seven people includes four managers. There are more managers than subordinates in my office. While soothing to the egos of those incapable of doing the work, there is no reason to have that much bureaucracy in such a small department. In addition, I've found that many promotions are proof of the Peter Principle. Employees tend to stay at the university for a very long time, resulting in promotion beyond their level of expertise simply because they are the most senior. This is certainly true of my three direct superiors. It has resulted in a toxic environment that runs off of fear and lies, gossip and back stabbing. The purpose of the work is ignored and the manta of "cover your ass" has been adopted. It is truly unfortunate because I love my job, the work itself. But detox will be necessary eventually.
