The evolution and bureaucratic nature of higher education has created organizational structures and practices that contribute to experiences of inequality for university staff, an employee group scarcely researched. The purpose of this study was to investigate and document the workplace experiences in university staff governance members in the University of Wisconsin System. The research questions were as follows: 1) What are the workplace experiences of university staff governance members in in the University of Wisconsin System? 2) How are these experiences connected to the institution's organizational structures and practices? The conceptual framework focused on how organizational structures and practices create opportunities of inequity for university staff in higher education, viewing the organization from Bolman and Deal's Four-Frame Model. This qualitative study applied a critical, phenomenological approach by recruiting 231 university staff governance members from all thirteen Wisconsin state universities to complete an anonymous survey with option to conduct a confidential interview and reviewing public documents to corroborate and critically examine participant experiences. Forty-four surveys were completed; four interviews were conducted, one unanticipated faculty response, and seventy-one state laws and UW policies or documents were connected to participant experiences. Participants indicated feeling left out of many campus activities and described ways campus leaders/managers showed support for university staff inclusion in governance matters. Participants indicated forty-five microaggressive perspectives regarding how their internal culture views them. Recent studies related to workplace satisfaction and equity suggested that dissatisfied employees produce lower returns and find lower enrollment as consequential to workplace inequality. Institutional stakeholders can look inward for expertise, data, and collaboration to contribute to the field of higher education because the need for additional research and evidence-based best practices in organizational leadership in higher education has never been more important. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]