(NewsNation) — Lincoln University of Missouri’s president is on paid administrative leave following the vice president of student affair’s death by suicide in early January.
This follows calls by students and alumni for University President John Moseley to be fired after family sources told HBCU Buzz that Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Antoinette Candia-Bailey suffered “bullying and severe mistreatment” from him.
A statement from the Historically Black college and university’s Board of Curators says Moseley volunteered to be put on leave during a third-party review into “potential personnel issues and concerns recently raised regarding compliance with the University’s established policies and procedures.”
“The third-party review will be conducted at the direction of the Board over the coming weeks,” according to the statement.
Lincoln University did not immediately respond to follow-up questions from NewsNation, including who the third party taking part in the review is.
If you or a loved one are experiencing mental distress, please call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Sources said in the HBCU Buzz article that Bailey was left “unsupported, disregarded, and abused after countless attempts to speak out on the bullying and harassment she experienced in her role from President Moseley.”
Calls for Moseley’s resignation from the campus community were swift. Lincoln University students and alumni rallied on social media using #FireMoseley.
On Thursday, The News Tribune wrote, around one dozen students protested at the university as the Board of Curators met.
Sherman Bonds, president of the Lincoln University National Alumni Association, wrote a letter to the Board of Curators, saying a change of leadership was needed in the president’s office.
“I find myself standing in the state of hopelessness,” Bonds wrote in the letter. “Therefore, my appeal to you and the Board of Curators is to find a resolution that restores that consciousness of peace and healing. The university’s institutional care has been breached. The present administration has become a liability to the mission and health of the institution.”
Bonds said in an interview with NewsNation that the university needs a space for healing, which is why he wrote the letter.
When he first met Candia-Bailey during his visit to the university at Homecoming, Bonds said, the administrator was a “passionate leader committed to the students and to the university.”
Some information “regarding her circumstances” was given to him on the day she died, Bonds said, though he declined to say exactly was this was.
The News-Tribune reports, though, that before she died, Candia-Bailey sent an email letter to those both on and off campus, including Moseley, in which she called the university president a “bully” with a “callous and evil soul” who joked about her mental health. This letter, according to the newspaper, was sent 6:15 a.m. Monday.
Candia-Bailey,in a copy of the letter given to NewsNation, wrote that her relationship with Moseley went “downhill” after Family and Medical Leave and Americans with Disabilities Act documents were submitted due to her “severe depression and anxiety.”
She wrote that she asked for Moseley’s help “several times,” but he ignored her request by failing to respond to emails. When the two were face-to-face, Candia-Bailey said, Moseley “danced around the topic.” During one evaluation meeting, Candia-Bailey said she “left in tears.”
“Student Affairs was my love, and my love killed me,” Candia-Bailey wrote.
Monica Graham met Candia-Bailey at Lincoln University when the two women were pledging sororities together. Although the two were in different organizations, they still grew close, and kept in touch throughout the years.
“She’s never changed. She’s always been a sweetheart,” Graham said in an interview with NewsNation.
Everyone in their group of friends had been excited when Candia-Bailey had first been named vice president of student affairs this past spring after her over two-decade long career in higher education.
However, Graham says, when she went to Lincoln in October for Homecoming, her friend had been stressed.
When asked what’s wrong, Candia-Bailey replied “this university is not going to kill me.”
“I said, ‘What do you mean by that?’” Graham says. “She said (the university) is not like it was when we were here. It has so many issues and so much corruption.”
Candia-Bailey confided to Graham that she was depressed in her new position.
That was the first and last time Candia-Bailey brought up her mental health, until, Graham said, she was fired on Jan. 3. Bonds also said that Candia-Bailey had been terminated from her position shortly before she died.
In the days after, Candia-Bailey reached out to Graham, and the two prayed, did breathing exercises and meditated together.
There had been no indication, Graham said, that she had wanted to take her life.
On Monday, Graham got the email from Candia-Bailey. Then, she got the call that the administrator had died.
“I started screaming,” Graham said. “I was like, this is not true. I just talked to her last night.”
The university put out a statement on Facebook Thursday saying they are mourning Candia-Bailey’s loss.
“She was a gifted colleague and always a passionate advocate for Lincoln University, HBCUs and other causes in which she believed,” the Facebook post said. “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.”
The Board of Curators, in a statement sent by the university Friday, said they and other university leaders cannot comment publicly on what they called “confidential employee personnel information,” but did say “the recent loss of Dr. Antoinette ‘Bonnie’ Candia-Bailey is tragic.”
“As a Board, we are committed to make certain the mental health of Lincoln University employees is a priority and that every employee is always treated with dignity and respect,” Board of Curators President Victor Pasley said. “The Board has confidence in the leadership team we have at Lincoln, but as we all work together to serve students and the Lincoln University community, this review will fully examine important questions, concerns and gather facts.”
Even though Moseley is now on leave, Graham said she and other members of the university community are going to keep bringing as much attention as they can to the situation.
“We won’t stop until he’s gone,” Graham said.
While they do want to see Moseley ousted, there’s also another cause Graham wants to fight for: mental health awareness in the workplace.
“Do not allow a job to infuriate you and get into your head so much it compromises your life or your health,” she said.
This story is developing. Refresh for updates.