There’s the door, new Modesto Junior College president, if you don’t want to be here

How committed is Santanu Bandyopadhyay to Modesto Junior College?

Two weeks after taking the job as MJC president, Bandyopadhyay on Tuesday interviewed for the same position at Citrus College in Southern California.

Simply incredible.

Maybe, you say, he was just going through the motions. Maybe he really prefers Modesto.

No. Dr. B, as he asked to be called in his chummy Zoom interview with Citrus College, made it abundantly clear that he really, really wants to be president there.

He lavished praise on that campus, in the San Gabriel Valley between Los Angeles and San Bernardino. He gushed about dreaming of “taking this college (Citrus) to be the No. 1 campus across California,” a place to be envied by its 114 other junior colleges, “a prime destination for everyone to follow.”

Asked what draws him to Citrus College, Bandyopadhyay got starry eyed with adulation for its CEO retention. Its outgoing president stayed 13 years; the one before, 18 years.

“Stability of leadership is one of my prime focuses,” he said.

Unbelievable.

Bandyopadhyay boasted about his “unique way of bonding with students” at Columbia College near Sonora, where he was president before accepting the MJC job and a $240,548 annual salary.

“That’s the kind of perspective I want to bring and will bring to this (Citrus) campus,” he said. “It’s where my heart is, and where I would like to go.”

Having betrayed Modesto, perhaps that — him going away — is best.

Two days before the Yosemite Community College District board voted 4-2 to hire Bandyopadhyay, this Modesto Bee Editorial Board revealed that no other two-year college among 115 in California has endured greater CEO turnover in the past two decades 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, while the statewide average is 72 months.

The thrust of The Bee’s May 9 editorial: Please, YCCD leaders, select someone to lead MJC who might stick around a while.

`Modesto? Maybe I’ll get a better offer’

Thanks to Bee reporter Ken Carlson, readers knew that Bandyopadhyay was a finalist for the top job at El Camino College, also in Southern California. Bandyopadhyay didn’t bother to mention he also was a finalist at Citrus College. That’s because “I was still deciding whether to go for (sic) Citrus interview,” he said in a recent email.

Confronted with editorial board questions immediately after his interview with Citrus on Tuesday, Bandyopadhyay said he was too busy to talk and suggested waiting several days to explain “this complex topic.” He provided terse written responses to a few questions, including one questioning his credibility in Modesto.

“Professionals build credibility through their work,” he said. “I will let my work speak for itself rather than giving statements.”

YCCD Chancellor Henry Yong, who oversees MJC and Columbia, said he knew Bandyopadhyay was a finalist at the three campuses when he offered him the MJC job, affirmed by the board vote. Although Yong knew Bandyopadhyay prefers the other two, Yong said he was obligated to follow a recruitment timeline and could not wait to see if offers would come from the other schools.

“If he were selected (at Citrus), we should congratulate him on his success,” Yong said via email. “We should not be possessive, and expect that every administrator in our district will work until retirement or death, whichever comes first. In short, YCCD and the community should rightly feel very proud that our institutions provided such an effective training ground for Dr. Bandyopadhyay.”

It’s hard to believe that MJC, with beautiful east and west campuses and solid reputations for nursing and ag programs, can’t attract a president who actually wants to be here.

No wonder this once-gem of Modesto has lost a step in recent times, playing a lesser role in community leadership and failing to respond adequately to workforce training demands of many local businesses. An institution relegated to the role of stepping stone for ambitious academic CEOs can’t command the respect it enjoyed in previous years.

Let’s try Plan B

Contacted separately, both YCCD board members who voted against offering the MJC president job to Bandyopadhyay said his Citrus interview confirmed their suspicion about his allegiance to Modesto, or lack thereof.

“I’m glad I voted against his appointment,” Milton Richards said in an interview.

In an email, Leslie Beggs said, “His interviewing for the Citrus job makes it even more obvious that we’re merely a rung on his ladder.”

Bandyopadhyay privately committed to Yong to stay at MJC two years if he doesn’t get the Citrus gig, Yong said. If Citrus wants Bandyopadhyay, “I’ll tell you — we always have a Plan B,” Yong said, refusing to say what that is. “We’re not afraid.”

There is no need to wait.

The YCCD board should cancel Bandyopadhyay’s contract and give the job to someone who actually wants it. Someone with a modicum of loyalty and transparency, who will give more than lip service to our people and our community. Someone who loves Modesto.

Someone who is in it for more than himself.