Please pull up a chair and stay awhile, next Modesto Junior College president

This question might be asked of the final candidate before Modesto Junior College’s next president is announced this week: Do you think you could stick around longer than a year and a half?

No other community college among the 115 in California has suffered greater CEO turnover than our beloved MJC, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

Since 2000, MJC has had 14 presidents or interim presidents. The statewide average is four.

The average presidential tenure in that same time frame for MJC is 17 months. The statewide average is 72 months.

MJC’s last president, Jim Houpis, beat the local average by only five months, for a total of 22, before his abrupt departure in January. In a recent interview and email exchange, Chancellor Henry Yong — who oversees both MJC and its sister campus near Jamestown, Columbia College — said Houpis had health problems and wanted to spend more time with family in Southern California.

Is community college CEO turnover a big deal?

Collectively, community colleges seem to think so.

In 1995, alarmed at presidents and chancellors coming and going with increasing frequency, the Community College League of California — an association providing professional development for such leaders, plus elected trustees — commissioned an every-other-year survey concluding that more should stay put.

The longer a college president stays in the job, the better chance she or he has at improving campus culture, said the survey and subsequent studies. Long-tenured presidents are better equipped to handle prickly problems and to make tough decisions, the commission says.

Those managing to keep a president 13 years inspire innovation on a much higher level than those which struggle to retain leaders. Longer-tenured presidents cultivate relationships with other community institutions and are better able to respond to local workforce needs.

Is Modesto Junior College in trouble?

If the Community College League of California thinks presidential tenure is important, and MJC’s record is the worst in the state, are we in a world of hurt?

Not necessarily.

True enough, MJC’s enrollment dropped 20% from fall of 2019 to fall of 2020, after COVID-19 struck, from 18,066 to 14,489. That’s not great, but those dips are happening across the state and nation. Columbia’s enrollment, for example, plunged 32%, to only 1,967 students.

But nobody should worry about lost fees. State leaders last year committed to providing two years of free tuition at all community colleges. And MJC picked up a total of $63 million in COVID relief money, of which nearly $28 million was passed directly to students.

Yong’s two-school Yosemite Community College District, with MJC and Columbia, combine for a $120 million annual budget.

Although most instruction continues remotely, both MJC and Columbia restarted a few classes with in-person labs last fall. Columbia may fully reopen before MJC because Tuolumne County’s COVID numbers and tier designation aren’t nearly as bad as here in Stanislaus County, Yong said.

Short-lived presidents seem to be a Valley thing, in all honesty. While MJC has had more presidents (14) in the past two decades than anywhere else in California, others in our San Joaquin Valley also fared worse than the statewide average of four: Merced Community College has had five, Delta in Stockton and Columbia each have had seven, and Fresno City College has had 10.

MJC must strive to reach full potential

Community colleges hold a special place in many of our hearts. Chances are excellent that you or someone you know got their start at a two-year college. They capture a large percentage of local high school graduates who aren’t yet ready or don’t have the money for a four-year university. And they provide a solid, low-cost option for adults of all ages returning for more education and job training; more than 8% of all students are older than 50.

“Where else can you see an Iraqi war veteran sitting next to an 18-year-old fresh out of high school sitting next to a 40-year-old divorcee?” said Larry Galizio, president and CEO of the Community College League of California.

Many visitors to all three YCCD campuses — east and west MJC in Modesto, and Columbia — come away impressed. Some MJC programs, like ag and nursing, enjoy good reputations.

But it would be swell to see the college assume a higher profile in many community organizations, and to better respond to local workforce training needs. MJC seems to have lost a step since Jill Stearns — the longest-serving president in recent times — left in 2018 after six years at the helm.

The YCCD board must make presidential retention a priority.

It was nice to see YCCD throw interviews of three finalists for the top MJC job open to the public in late April. In the running are MJC interim president Santanu Bandyopadhyay, Jonathan King, a vice president at Lake Tahoe Community College, and Lena Tran, a vice president at San Jose City College. Yong said his recommendation will go to the YCCD board on Wednesday.

No one would be surprised if Bandyopadhyay gets the nod. He’s already been on the job on a temporary basis a few months, and previously was Columbia’s president, and seems rather popular with the YCCD board and faculty.

Here’s hoping he sees enough reasons to hang out a bit.