Pros
The institution values flexibility in scheduling and trying to work with employees to allow them freedom to manage their life obligations outside of work - though this degrades quickly the higher up the chain one moves.
Cons
The sitting president has destroyed a once well-thought-of institution. The values of the institution have been adulterated in the name of profit and ego-centered narcissism. While he is currently making his exit from the university, it will take years to correct the damage he has done, and to rebuild a healthy culture from the poisonous cesspool that has been so manipulatively and selfishly created. Any employee that reaches a managerial level will be expected to drop anything and everything and rush to the aid of the institution at literally any moment. Gone are vacations or weekends or children's birthdays or anniversaries or even church services (odd that a university that purports to be faith-based demands their employees leave worship to manage the fires created by the upper administration). Development of employees is non-existent. The environment is very transactional, and employees are helped to "transition" into new roles extremely frequently. The sitting president has adopted a practice of bringing in an executive coach whenever he has determined he no longer likes a certain employee. He will set this up as though he is interested in helping the employee develop as a leader, but in actuality it is an opportunity to positions he employee to be pushed out the door. The president does not have enough gumption and intestinal fortitude to actually stand up and fire someone, so he sets the stage where he can force one of his lower-level administrators to offer two options to the employee: 1.) direct termination, or 2.) a slap-in-the-face package of a few months of salary if the employee will submit their resignation and leave quietly (a forced resignation). It is extremely unethical and cowardly, and has become common practice that no one is immune to. The idea is that the president wants to be known as a loving and caring philanthropist, which could not possibly be further from the truth, and this puts the employee in a place where they are less likely to tell his evil tales, and more likely to say "yes, he at least gave me 3 months pay". It's sickening and cowardly. There are plenty of sycophants that surround this president, and have been aiding in building this toxic culture for years. Until a new president or board of directors comes in and cleans house, gets rid of the good-ol-boys club that is so prevalent, and begins holding the organization (including the individual employee) accountable, the institution will continue to degrade and deteriorate. On top of the numerous people who have been unethically forced out in the past year, there has been a mass exit of others who are simply tired of dealing with this administration and the absurdity that is life at Lipscomb University. It is incredibly unfortunate, because the institution has the potential to do so much good in the lives of its students, its employees, and the local community. However, the institution is currently only here to serve one person, and that is the president. For years, there has been a narrative that is very explicitly expressed that the institution is in a budget crisis. That could not be further from the truth. The institution is in a management crisis, and it would have been wise for those who had the power to do so to remove the sitting president years ago when the truth of his antics were coming to light. When public financial forms reveal an increasing salary for the president that now tops out at over $700K, but he stands before the employee base and tells them for yet another year in a row that due to budget constraints no one will be receiving a pay raise...well, that should speak for itself. Whomever takes on the presidency in the next administration will have such hard work ahead of them to rebuild the trust that has been destroyed by the current president's egomaniacal, sociopathic, narcissistic ways. I would not recommend working at Lipscomb to anyone until the currently sitting president is well on his way to others things, and has sufficiently removed himself from he daily operations of Lipscomb University.
