Vantaggi
Though the college doesn't pay especially well on a national scale, salaries are okay in the local small-town economy, and the benefits are generous. The campus is lovely and there are always performances and cultural experiences available. Many staff members gladly stay at Whitman for decades. If you're a people person, you'll find opportunities to build lasting friendships and working relationships.
Svantaggi
The faculty are sacred cows: it can take only a single faculty complaint to derail a project or to ignore best practices. The workplace-as-family environment means that business decisions are usually made by consensus or by arbitrary management fiat, not on the basis of outcomes and processes. It's a 150-year-old institution staffed by lifers, not an organization that can prioritize effectiveness. If you're used to life in the for-profit world, then this environment may be really demotivating.