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Antonio Lewis was stunned to see an e mail from Antoinette “Bonnie” Candia-Bailey in his inbox on the morning of Jan. 8. Lewis, who’s president of the Atlanta chapter of the Lincoln College Alumni Affiliation, had by no means met Candia-Bailey however knew she was the college’s vice chairman for pupil affairs and an alumna.
After scanning the primary few traces of the e-mail, his shock turned to alarm.
“The primary paragraph says, ‘Lincoln, the place it began and the place all of it ends.’ That paragraph made me alert to what might occur,” stated Lewis, who stated he instantly despatched Candia-Bailey a message by way of Fb.
“I stated, ‘No matter you’re doing, please don’t do it. Give me a name.’”
The e-mail got here within the type of a letter addressed to Lincoln College President John B. Moseley. Candia-Bailey despatched the message from her private account to household, buddies and Lincoln alumni, hours earlier than she died by suicide.
Operating greater than ten pages and practically 6,000 phrases, the e-mail referred to as out Moseley for a litany of actions that Candia-Bailey stated exacerbated her current psychological well being situation, which she didn’t explicitly describe.
“It was a manifesto,” Lewis stated. “She was very direct with what she needed to occur and what had occurred to her. She didn’t mince any phrases.”
Within the e mail, which the Midwest Newsroom has reviewed, Candia-Bailey offers Moseley 18 suggestions for tips on how to enhance his job efficiency as college president. She contains accusations of micromanagement, failure to offer clear instructions, inconsistency and conceitedness.
She additionally pointed to jail time, DWI offenses, and prison expenses by a key chief on Moseley’s employees–citing case numbers and different particulars from public data. She stated the chief was disruptive and created a poisonous work atmosphere.
She outlined a number of events when she talked about her psychological well being struggles with Moseley and requested for assist, solely to be rebuffed.
“I believe all the e mail exhibits the tradition of bullying and go-along-to-get-along, and it’s sickening,” Lewis stated.
As phrase of Candia-Bailey’s dying and her e mail unfold, blame and criticism grew amongst alumni and college students–most of it directed at Moseley, who fired Candia-Bailey the week earlier than she died. Her termination letter learn, partly, that she “was being fired ‘attributable to your continued failure to appropriately supervise your employees and continued failure to correctly supervise the realm of pupil affairs at Lincoln College.’”
Candia-Bailey’s e mail addresses her firing, admitting to errors and detailing the occasions she tried to work inside the college’s processes and search methods to enhance.
Moseley took voluntary paid go away inside days of Candia-Bailey’s dying, and on Jan. 12, Lincoln College’s Board of Curators introduced it could “interact a third-party professional to completely evaluation potential personnel points and considerations lately raised relating to compliance with the college’s established insurance policies and procedures.”
In response to requests to interview Moseley in addition to a consultant of the Lincoln College Board of Curators, the Midwest Newsroom obtained two statements from the college’s advertising and communications division. One is identical assertion launched on Jan. 12. The second, dated Jan. 18, offered extra particulars concerning the evaluation. It stated the unversity has employed attorneys led by Ronald Norwood and Jerina Phillips within the Larger Training Apply Group of Lewis Rice in St. Louis to conduct the impartial evaluation “of current points raised relating to compliance with the College’s established insurance policies and procedures.”
Lewis, a 2011 graduate of Lincoln, is keen to be taught what the evaluation reveals. Whatever the findings, nonetheless, he thinks Moseley’s voluntary go away will not be adequate and that he ought to resign instantly.
He referred to Claudine Homosexual, who stepped away from the Harvard College presidency in early January amid criticism about her remarks about anti-Semitism and accusations of plagiarism.
“I noticed the grace that Dr. Homosexual confirmed. She confirmed a unique degree of maturity,” Lewis stated. “And to see the best way that our president is appearing exhibits me the privilege that he thinks he has. I hope he steps down for the betterment of the college.”
Sherman Bonds, nationwide president of the Lincoln College Alumni Affiliation, requested for much more definitive motion in a letter he wrote to the Board of Curators president.
“The college’s institutional care has been breached,” he wrote to Victor Pasley. “The current administration has turn out to be a legal responsibility to the mission and well being of the establishment. I’ve turn out to be compelled to demand a change to the Workplace of the Presidency of the college efficient instantly.”
Bonds, who earned a bachelor’s diploma from Lincoln in 1980 and a grasp’s diploma from the varsity a 12 months later, instructed the Midwest Newsroom neither Pasley nor anybody else from the Board of Curators has responded to his letter.
Pasley didn’t reply to Midwest Newsroom requests for an interview.
On Moseley’s watch
Lincoln College, one in every of two Traditionally Black Schools and Universities (HBCUs) in Missouri, has struggled with funding shortfalls and declining enrollment. In late 2023, federal officers estimated Missouri had underfunded the school, situated in Jefferson Metropolis, by virtually $361.6 million for 3 a long time.
The Missouri Unbiased reported that Lincoln College’s funding woes grew “over years of the state not assembly its obligation to match federal funds and faculty directors dipping into the college’s different income streams.”
Lewis stated he was dismayed by the best way Moseley responded to his questions on securing cash for Lincoln College shortly after he took workplace.
“I instantly gave him a name,” Lewis stated. “I stated, ‘Congratulations, President Moseley. Now can we work on getting that Lincoln College funding?’”
Lewis stated Moseley made a comment that caught him off guard.
“He instructed me asking for that funding is like asking for reparations.”
Moseley’s college biography touts the securing of the much-needed funding: “For the primary time because it was federally mandated in 2000, the College obtained practically $10 million, the complete state match for its federal land grant funding, in Might 2022 and maintained the complete funding following the 2023 legislative session.”
Bonds stated it’s no accident that Moseley, who’s white, was in a position to do what Black Lincoln College presidents over a long time couldn’t.
“African American presidents got here by way of this period the place we didn’t obtain this funding,” he stated. “The entitlement to the funding was at all times there. The state simply determined to launch it on Moseley’s watch.”
Moseley’s biography says he has greater than 20 years of upper training expertise, “together with 14 years on HBCU campuses.” His LinkedIn profile exhibits few examples of college administration expertise, nonetheless. It lists an assistant head basketball coach place at North Carolina Central College, adopted by the top basketball coach function at Lincoln. From there, Moseley was the varsity’s athletic director for practically six years. After 9 months as interim president, Moseley formally bought the job in 2022.
“He simply walked out of the health club and into the president’s workplace,” Bonds stated.
Lewis didn’t low cost Moseley’s expertise as a basketball coach or athletic director, however he did query why the Board of Curators chosen him for the place within the absence of educational and administrative management roles.
“Dr. James Franks was our basketball coach, grew to become our athletic director, grew to become our president,” Lewis stated. “He went on to turn out to be the primary Black man to be the president of the NCAA. And so I’ve seen a basketball coach turn out to be a president, and I perceive and respect it.”
Lewis stated that Moseley’s race was not a key consider his considerations, mentioning that Lincoln College’s founding president, Richard Baxter Foster, was white. Lewis referred to as Moseley a novice, based mostly on his resume.
Bonds additionally referred to as Moseley a novice and stated the Board of Curators tapped him to guide Lincoln College as a result of he had sturdy relationships with lawmakers and officers in Jefferson Metropolis.
“There was at all times concern about his potential to mentor college and college students, to offer path to others,” Bonds stated. “His potential to offer scholarly management is proscribed.”
In her e mail, Candia-Bailey urged Moseley to get to know the alumni and accomplice with them for the nice of the college. Bonds stated that, in contrast to earlier presidents, Moseley appeared bored with connecting with alumni, who quantity hundreds across the nation and actively fundraise and recruit on behalf of their alma mater.
“Our suggestions was not obtained with any worth,” stated Bonds, who’s been lively within the alumni affiliation for many years. “So we’ve at all times, from the time that Moseley’s been within the place, been at a place of, you recognize, feeling that indifference towards what we imagine and our enter.”
Bonds stated the indifference has continued within the wake of Candia-Bailey’s dying.
“It could be fascinating if the Board of Curators would wish to have a listening session with us,” he stated. “They stated they need a listening session with the school and a listening session with the scholars, however they didn’t say they need a listening session with the alumni.”
A pupil speaks
On Jan. 12, the day Lincoln College introduced the impartial evaluation, a bunch of scholars gathered outdoors a Board of Curators assembly, hoping to query leaders concerning the college’s response and plans.
“We have been simply making an attempt to have a dialog simply to get some sort of solutions or simply to be heard,” Kenlyn Washington, Lincoln’s Pupil Authorities Affiliation president, instructed native tv station KRCG. “After they stated, ‘OK, we’re having a closed assembly now,’ it was very irritating.”
Washington, a political science main from St. Louis, instructed the Midwest Newsroom she grew to become acquainted with Candia-Bailey by way of her work in pupil authorities.
“She was an amazing girl,” she stated. “She was about her enterprise. She made a big affect on campus, and he or she impacted many lives.”
As for Moseley, Washington stated he maintained shut relationships with student-athletes and athletic division employees however was perceived as “distant,” by the broader pupil physique.
She stated a reckoning at Lincoln College is the very last thing she anticipated going into her senior 12 months.
“For all the pieces to occur in such a brief time period and to have this a lot consideration and the highlight, it’s actually been an eye-opener,” Washington stated. “However we college students proceed with the issues that we have to get completed.”
Amongst these issues, Washington stated, is urgent the Board of Curators for details about how Candia-Bailey was handled and her firing.
The Jan. 18 assertion from the Board of Curators stated, “…we wish to prioritize the psychological well being of everybody right here and ensure every worker and pupil is handled with dignity and respect.”
Like Bonds and Lewis, Washington is able to see Moseley gone–whether or not by termination or resignation.
“We should always maintain everybody accountable on behalf of the scholar physique,” she stated.
‘Our college is struggling’
Stevie Lawrence II, Lincoln College’s provost and vice chairman of educational affairs, is now appearing as interim president of Lincoln College. DeNeia Thomas, dean {of professional} research, now serves as appearing vice chairman for pupil affairs, the place Candia-Bailey held till her firing.
The subsequent Board of Curators assembly is scheduled for Feb. 8. College students will probably be there, Washington stated, to take a stand for the college they love.
“For me, coming to Lincoln made me who I’m,” she stated.
Lewis, who has not visited the Lincoln campus for 2 years, stated he will even be on the assembly in Jefferson Metropolis. He’s wanting to resume the fundraising and recruiting efforts he suspended throughout Moseley’s tenure.
“The individual I grew to become at Lincoln College is the individual I’m now,” he stated. “I used to be taught tips on how to converse up in occasions like this. Our college is struggling.”
Bonds, a particular training trainer in Georgia, stated he won’t attend the Feb. 8 assembly, however he and different alumni will collect in Jefferson Metropolis for his or her annual assembly later within the month. He stated the event might be a chance for college leaders to have interaction with alumni.
Bonds, born and raised in Sikeston, in Missouri’s rural “Bootheel,” stated Lincoln College has lengthy served as a beacon for Black college students, and he worries that the varsity’s present troubles are detracting from its model and repute.
“What the entire underpinning of the establishment is about is bringing particular person college students and college to a platform that engages them and uplifts them,” Bonds stated.
Should you’re having ideas of suicide or self-harm or know somebody who’s, the 988 Lifeline supplies free and confidential assist all hours, seven days every week.
This story comes from the Midwest Newsroom, an investigative journalism collaboration together with IPR, KCUR 89.3, Nebraska Public Media Information, St. Louis Public Radio and NPR.
Holly Edgell is the managing editor of the Midwest Newsroom, a public radio collaboration amongst NPR member stations in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. You may attain her at hollyedgell@kcur.org.
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