Kelley, Tom

UNC Service

I have been at UNC for 21 years. Recently, I have served on the Faculty Hearings Committee (a wrenching assignment), three Deanship Review Committees, the Institutional Review Board, and the Committee on Student Conduct. I was the acting chair of the latter at a time when our student-led disciplinary system was undergoing significant change. I have also served on many advisory boards including that of the African Studies Center and Student Legal Services. Much of my service has come “off books” in the form of free legal advice. Sometimes on my own, sometimes with my students, I have provided legal counsel to scores of nonprofit organizations

Candidate Statement

As a quintuple Tar Heel (employed, spouse employed, two children graduated, one child about to), I seek to preserve and improve this great institution. I am a moderate by disposition, but I am a zealot in defending UNC’s academic integrity and the ideals of faculty governance and academic freedom. I will bring that perspective to the Advisory Committee. I have broad experience at UNC. I was a fixed-term professor and a junior tenure-track professor, and I understand the travails of both. As a part-time administrator, I have collaborated with many over-worked, under-compensated staff members, and I understand their challenges. I have worked with countless nonprofit community organizations and I understand both their reliance on and frustration with UNC. Finally, I am a parent who has strained to cover the rising costs of a UNC education.