This comment is made for my experience working on the admin/education side only. I have great experiences working in different departments as a hokie alum. It is just to my surprise, that this particular experience in admin/education is horrible and toxic.
The admin/education side is really meant to work closely with students, which is the most vibrant element of the community. However, the majority of the people I worked with all seem to be ready for retirement without too much energy. They can be energetic when bragging about the "big things" but the purpose is to really impress and inflate performance reviews for pay raises or promotions, in reality, they aren't doing anything that contributes to any factual development.
They asked me at least 3 questions about diversity (I'm not white) during interviews, but it does not change the fact that is a predominately white institute governed by old white leadership and they do so little to engage the younger and diverse employees. I did not feel belonged at all! I've raised concerns about DEI but got no hear back from the leadership team, not even a reply in email.
People do not take responsibility for what they say or do because no one seems to care enough. Seniority exists in a way that hurts morale and engagement, I worked with an employee who is in a position long enough but for some reason, they just keep making simple mistakes, instead of being transparent about it, they would choose to cover it up until is discovered. I'm not sure if the leadership does anything to help these employees grow despite a simple mistake that ended up costing $2000. I was told, instead, to respect people and be polite because I'm not accepting enough.
It is more ridiculous that at the end of the year during a performance review, the direct reports made comments about my personal values and ethics not being flexible, saying that I'm not cut out for this job because of this. The student admin/education side of the university just doesn't deserve to be served.
