Based on my experience as an administrator and middle manager at Georgetown for eight years:
- There is little or no opportunity for advancement within each department or the University as a whole, even for employees who have earned excellent performance reviews, have used their tuition benefits to increase their education, etc.
- There is a consistent preference, across departments, to fill higher-level positions with outside talent, rather than through promoting talented people from within the University. Over time this becomes a major disincentive for employees either (1) to remain at the University long term or (2) to work at their maximum level of ability. It also often results in management that does not understand the special problems inherent in dealing with students, student employees, parents, academic departments, etc. It also results in departments with ZERO institutional memory; so that, for example, policies that failed in the past will be introduced by the leadership, who are unaware that those policies have already been attempted--and then rescinded when they proved overcostly or counterproductive.
- In many departments, the managerial strategy seems to be one of divide-and-rule: A handful of people at the top are paid exceptionally well (to ensure their loyalty) while everyone below is paid wages far below what they would make for the same work, even at other colleges and not-for-profits.
- A pervasive feature of Georgetown's professional culture -- quietly conceded by many staff -- is a cynical disregard for the University's own stated values. I once had an very-very-upper-level administrator inform me that my job was to get as much work out of my student employees as possible for as little money as possible. When I objected that this approach was not consistent with the Catholic values that Georgetown espoused, the response was laughter, and a stern command to "tow the company line." (Until that moment, I thought only villainous cartoon bosses like Mr. Burns gave orders like "tow the company line.")
