JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Many students at a historically black university in Missouri returned from Christmas break this week wearing black, mourning the suicide of a beloved administrator accused of bullying and racism by the school’s white president.
The death of Antoinette Bonnie Candia-Bailey is known for holding her office door open and greeting everyone at Lincoln University with a smile. The death of Antoinette Bonnie Candia-Bailey has sparked student protests and #JUSTICE4BONNIE T-shirts on the idyllic red brick campus in Jefferson City.
While President John Moseley agreed last week to go on paid leave pending a third-party investigation, many of the school’s 1,800 students and its alumni group are calling for his resignation. A series of #firemoseley posts on social media have questioned his qualifications, his treatment of the black driver and whether it was appropriate for a white man to lead an HBCU.
“We want the removal of Dr. Moseley, as well as the board of trustees and everyone else who was responsible,” said 22-year-old senior Xoe Binford, who was among about 30 protesters at a trustees meeting on Wednesday.
The board described the 49-year-old’s death on January 8 as “tragic” but declined to comment in detail, citing the need to keep personnel information confidential.
“As a university community, we want to prioritize the mental health of everyone here and ensure that every employee and student is treated with dignity and respect,” said Victor Pasley, chairman of the Board of Trustees.
Monica Graham, a Lincoln graduate and longtime friend, said Candia-Bailey committed suicide just days after she was fired as vice president of student affairs. Graham shared an email in which Candia-Bailey detailed the issues she had with Moseley, including saying he harassed her and alluding to her being “an angry black woman,” which she described as a “stereotype that has demoralized black women for decades. .”
Candia-Bailey wrote that the situation worsened after she requested leave through the Family Medical Leave Act to deal with her “severe depression and anxiety.”
Moseley did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Historically, most black colleges and universities had white presidents in the 1940s, after which graduates began to withdraw, said Marybeth Gasman, a Rutgers University historian whose research focuses on systemic racism in higher education.
Today, a white president at an HBCU is a rarity, she said. She knew of only one other example: Bluefield State in West Virginia, which is now a predominantly white school.
“Because it is rare, we don’t know much about the consequences,” she said. “However, we know from research and many examples that black women are often abused, bullied and harassed in the workplace by white men and others. They also have to deal with sexism and racism.”
Harvard University’s first Black female president was recently forced to resign after being accused of plagiarism and amid backlash over her testimony at a Congressional hearing on anti-Semitism on campus. The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to end affirmative action in college admissions, and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are increasingly under fire in academia and industry.
Just 30 miles from Lincoln University, anti-racism protests erupted on the University of Missouri’s Columbia campus in 2015, forcing that school’s president to resign. A black student on the predominantly white campus went on a weeklong hunger strike. Dozens of black football players refused to play until the president resigned.
Friends of Candia-Bailey said Moseley was never fit to lead the historically black university.
“Why would you appoint a white president to such a position?” asked Eric Malone, 53, who met the late administrator when they were both students at Lincoln and kept in touch with her over the years. His biggest concern, however, was Moseley’s qualifications.
Moseley was named president in January 2022 after serving as the school’s director of athletics and basketball coach. His wife is an assistant professor at Lincoln.
“When he was a basketball coach, we loved him,” Graham said. “Everything was great. But then he became president and we didn’t support that. Again, not because he’s white, but because he wasn’t qualified to run a university.”
Kendra Perry, 50, who also met Candia-Bailey when they were students, questioned his motivation for taking on the leadership role.
“I have to ask myself, ‘Are you really going to be for us or are you going to be for what you can benefit from?’ And I saw him being more political and not more personal about making sure that you maintain the integrity of our HBCU,” Perry said.
Emails shared by Graham show that Candia-Bailey contacted the board in November about her issues with Moseley, and the board apparently dismissed her concerns. The board chair, Pasley, told Candia-Bailey that the board “is not concerned with the management of personnel matters for Lincoln University and will take no further action in connection with this matter.”
Pasley declined to comment to The Associated Press.
Cierra Tillman, a freshman computer information systems student at Lincoln, said she hoped the protests would “bring about justice, not just for Dr. Bailey, but also to raise mental health awareness for every student on campus and any other faculty or staff.”
“Her voice should have been heard before we got to this point,” Tillman said.
Funeral services are set for Saturday.
The death really took its toll on Perry, whose daughter hoped to become the fourth generation of her family to attend the school. She wonders if they should reconsider that plan.
“If you can tear down someone as strong and confident as Bonnie, then I fear for my own child,” Perry said. ‘I can’t send her there. I don’t have the confidence. I lost confidence in that university.”
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Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas.