The president of Lincoln University of Missouri was placed on leave Friday amid claims linking the recent death of a senior administrator to her experience on the campus. John B. Moseley volunteered to take a paid leave as the university prepared for an outside review of “potential personnel issues and concerns recently raised regarding compliance with the university’s established policies and procedures,” according to a Friday statement by its Board of Curators.
HBCU Buzz reported on Thursday that Antoinette (Bonnie) Candia-Bailey, Lincoln’s vice president for student affairs, had died by suicide. The news outlet quoted “family sources” as stating that Candia-Bailey had experienced “bullying and severe mistreatment” in her role. In its statement, the board said it could not comment on personnel issues but called the death of Candia-Bailey “tragic.”
Stevie Lawrence II, provost and vice president for academic affairs at the historically Black public university, will serve as president until the investigation is concluded, the board said.
The leadership shakeup followed the Lincoln University Alumni Association’s call this week for the board remove Moseley. Alumni and students took to social media to demand the president resign.
“The university’s institutional care has been breached,” wrote Sherman Bonds, the association’s president, in a letter reported by HBCU Buzz. “The present administration has become a liability to the mission and health of the institution. I have become compelled to demand a change in the Office of the Presidency of the university, effective immediately.”
KRCG, a television station, reported on Friday that Candia-Bailey had written in emails to the board that she had been “intentionally harassed and bullied,” among other statements. The board declined to comment to The Chronicle about the emails from Candia-Bailey. NBC News reported on Friday that Candia-Bailey’s husband and mother said she had been fired by Moseley this month.
In Candia-Bailey’s termination notice, a copy of which was obtained by The Chronicle, Moseley wrote she was being fired “due to your continued failure to appropriately supervise your staff and continued failure to properly supervise the area of student affairs at Lincoln University.”
In a statement about Candia-Bailey’s death, the university said she was “a gifted colleague and always a passionate advocate for Lincoln University, HBCUs, and other causes in which she believed. Dr. Bailey had many friends in the Lincoln University community. As a Blue Tiger community, we grieve with them and send our deepest condolences to Dr. Bailey’s family.”
If you are in crisis and would like to talk to someone, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 988, or text “HOME” to the Crisis Text Line, at 741741. Both services are free, confidential, and available 24/7.
