By Holly Edgell The Midwest Newsroom
Antonio Lewis was shocked to see an e mail from Antoinette “Bonnie” Candia-Bailey in his inbox on the morning of Jan. 8. Lewis, 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 scholar affairs and an alumna.
After scanning the primary few strains 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 may occur,” stated Lewis, who stated he instantly despatched Candia-Bailey a message through 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, associates and Lincoln alumni, hours earlier than she died by suicide.
Working greater than 10 pages and almost 6,000 phrases, the e-mail known 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 wished 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 provides Moseley 18 suggestions for learn how to enhance his job efficiency as college president. She contains accusations of micromanagement, failure to supply clear instructions, inconsistency and vanity.
She additionally pointed to jail time, DWI offenses and prison expenses by a key chief on Moseley’s workers–citing case numbers and different particulars from public data. She stated the chief was disruptive and created a poisonous work setting.
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 feel your entire e mail reveals 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 ‘on account of your continued failure to appropriately supervise your workers and continued failure to correctly supervise the realm of scholar affairs at Lincoln College.’”
Candia-Bailey’s e mail addresses her firing, admits to errors and particulars 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 might “have interaction a third-party skilled to completely assessment potential personnel points and issues not too long ago raised concerning 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 acquired two statements from the college’s advertising and marketing and communications division. One is similar assertion launched on Jan. 12. The second, dated Jan. 18, supplied extra particulars concerning the assessment. It stated the college has employed attorneys led by Ronald Norwood and Jerina Phillips within the Larger Schooling Observe Group of Lewis Rice in St. Louis to conduct the unbiased assessment “of current points raised concerning compliance with the College’s established insurance policies and procedures.”
Lewis, a 2011 graduate of Lincoln, is keen to study what the assessment reveals. Whatever the findings, nonetheless, he thinks Moseley’s voluntary go away will not be ample 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 reveals 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 yr later, advised 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 Faculties and Universities (HBCUs) in Missouri, has struggled with funding shortfalls and declining enrollment. In late 2023, federal officers estimated Missouri had underfunded the faculty, positioned in Jefferson Metropolis, by nearly $361.6 million for 3 many years.
The Missouri Impartial 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 advised 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 acquired almost $10 million, the total state match for its federal land grant funding, in Could 2022 and maintained the total 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 many years couldn’t.
“African American presidents got here via this period the place we didn’t obtain this funding,” he stated. “The entitlement to the funding was all the time there. The state simply determined to launch it on Moseley’s watch.”
Moseley’s biography says he has greater than 20 years of upper schooling expertise, “together with 14 years on HBCU campuses.” His LinkedIn profile reveals 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 position at Lincoln. From there, Moseley was the varsity’s athletic director for almost six years. After 9 months as interim president, Moseley formally acquired 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, turned our athletic director, turned 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 think about his issues, stating that Lincoln College’s founding president, Richard Baxter Foster, was white. Lewis known as Moseley a novice, based mostly on his resume.
Bonds additionally known 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 all the time concern about his means to mentor college and college students, to supply route to others,” Bonds stated. “His means to supply scholarly management is restricted.”
In her e mail, Candia-Bailey urged Moseley to get to know the alumni and associate with them for the great of the college. Bonds stated that, not like earlier presidents, Moseley appeared tired of connecting with alumni, who quantity 1000’s across the nation and actively fundraise and recruit on behalf of their alma mater.
“Our suggestions was not acquired with any worth,” stated Bonds, who’s been lively within the alumni affiliation for many years. “So we’ve all the time, from the time that Moseley’s been within the place, been at a place of, you already know, 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 need to have a listening session with us,” he stated. “They stated they need a listening session with the college and a listening session with the scholars, however they didn’t say they need a listening session with the alumni.”
A scholar speaks
On Jan. 12, the day Lincoln College introduced the unbiased assessment, a gaggle of scholars gathered exterior a Board of Curators assembly, hoping to query leaders concerning the college’s response and plans.
“We had 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, advised 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, advised the Midwest Newsroom she turned acquainted with Candia-Bailey via her work in scholar authorities.
“She was an incredible girl,” she stated. “She was about her enterprise. She made a major affect on campus, and she or he impacted many lives.”
As for Moseley, Washington stated he maintained shut relationships with student-athletes and athletic division workers however was perceived as “distant,” by the broader scholar physique.
She stated a reckoning at Lincoln College is the very last thing she anticipated going into her senior yr.
“For every little thing 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 executed.”
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 need to prioritize the psychological well being of everybody right here and ensure every worker and scholar 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 must 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 scholar affairs, the place Candia-Bailey held till her firing.
The following Board of Curators assembly is scheduled for Feb. 8. College students might 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 may also be on the assembly in Jefferson Metropolis. He’s desirous to resume the fundraising and recruiting efforts he suspended throughout Moseley’s tenure.
“The particular person I turned at Lincoln College is the particular person I’m now,” he stated. “I used to be taught learn how to communicate up in occasions like this. Our college is struggling.”
Bonds, a particular schooling 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 popularity.
“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.
In case you’re having ideas of suicide or self-harm or know somebody who’s, the 988 Lifeline gives 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.
This text was initially printed by Phrase In Black.
