Poor environment for young professionals, minorities, and rigorous workers
Pros
Without a doubt, Butler has a decent benefits package and a hardworking HR department to help you in various capacities. There are many culture and entertainment opportunities as well including discounted tickets to Clowes events, the Vivian Delbrooks Visiting Writers Series, Diversity Lecture Series, and staff development opportunities in the community. There are various subcultures in this community, and some of those subcultures are very welcoming, asset-based individuals. The work environment is beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. The technical support from IT is always friendly and timely. Mostly, you'll never want for resources.
Cons
I was assigned a mentor and never met them and never received any benefits or knowledge from the assignment. The campus is in a constant state of construction. You can expect to pay a lot for parking and for it to be disrupted pretty consistently. Things move slowly in higher education institutions, and certainly here. There are numerous committees and work groups and meetings about meetings, before decisions are made or actions are taken. I once saw a document revision take an entire year. There also tends to be significant communication gaps between higher management and the employees. Many initiatives are sometimes implemented globally without any local processes to be put in place to support those initiatives (despite the slow moving progress and opportunities to develop those processes). Diversity is a real problem at this university and not just ethnic diversity. Disabilities and age are problematic areas as well. Many people speak about a culture of diversity there, but there are also many who behave as diversity gatekeepers and make the dialogue an exclusive one. During my time there, I had many negative experiences as a minority and a young professional (many ageist remarks). This is a highly traditional culture of legacy with a very privileged environment. They haven't yet made room for others outside of the privileged, Caucasian archetype. However, there are individuals who are trying hard to change this.