The untimely death of Antoinette “Bonnie” Candia-Bailey and accusations of mistreatment while serving as the vice president of student affairs at Lincoln University sparked conversation about hostile work environments and workplace bullying across numerous industries — particularly for employees who are part of marginalized communities.
Bullying in the workplace has real-life consequences. Besides discomfort, the stress and anxiety that accompanies toxic work circumstances can lead to, or exacerbate, serious medical conditions like hypertension, stroke and heart attack. Mental anguish experienced by victims of bullying puts life on hold, often resulting in unpaid medical leave and loss of wages.
Adia Harvey-Wingfield is professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis and author of “Gray Areas: How the Way We Work Perpetuates Racism & What We Can Do to Fix It.” She called Candia-Bailey’s death part of a troubling trend of Black women with leadership roles in academia dying unexpectedly. She told St. Louis on the Air it’s also a trend that extends across multiple work sectors and industries, not just higher education at predominantly white institutions or, in Candia-Bailey’s case, an historically Black university or college.
“We want to be a little bit more circumspect about just how safe these environments are,” Harvey-Wingfield said. “Leadership roles do not protect you. High-ranking positions in the organization will not protect you. Working at HBCU, unfortunately, will not necessarily protect you. Until organizations start to be more aware of the myriad of challenges Black women are facing and respond accordingly, these are dangerous jobs in some ways.”
There is some hope, but it is dependent on leadership stepping up and not shying away from addressing the culture within their institutions. “There are data-proven points that organizations can take to address [workplace bullying],” Harvey-Wingfield said. “The interesting thing about this is that a lot of these solutions are not ones that are explicitly or overtly race-conscious. These are policies that work … and can actually help underrepresented workers of all backgrounds.”
To hear recommendations Adia Harvey-Wingfield makes to help deal with hostile workspaces and a rundown of what’s next for Lincoln University in the wake of Antoinette Candia-Bailey’s death, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Podcast, or by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
