In this article the author discusses the role university culture can play on a campus and how it can impact policy and practice. The article explores how a university's history, values, and vision form its culture and how this culture in turn affects its stability and continuity. The article discusses how newcomers within the university are indoctrinated and then incorporated within the system through the use of the campus culture. The article also takes an in-depth look at those powerful individuals who control the university culture and offers insights on how to effectively deal with them. Finally, the article offers strategies for tapping into the core values of the university culture in order to develop a personal powerbase on campus.