Editor’s note: This series will focus on the recall election and how it’s affecting students and our campus.

California voters have spoken.

“Recall” seemed to be the word of the evening Oct. 7, as early poll results named Arnold Schwarzenegger the new California governor-elect.

“I will not let you down,” declared Schwarzenegger, as his wife and her parents stood by his side.

The hoopla is now over and the excitement of the election has subsided.

But people may be asking, “What happens next?”

Schwarzenegger has never really said what he will do to solve the budget problems.

The crush of recent budget cuts by the governor’s office has hit community colleges hard.

Overall funding has been reduced by $250 million, which seems to reflect a desire by Sacramento to put the needs of community college students low on a list of priorities.

At a Sacramento City College news conference in late September, California Community Colleges Chancellor Thomas Nussbaum said, “We have already seen the impact of last year’s budget reductions on our course offerings and the subsequent loss of access for 90,000 students. It’s wrong for these students and it’s wrong for California.”

As a direct result of Gov. Gray Davis’s budget cuts, EC recently decided to cancel the winter session, which was to offer classes that many students need to fulfill graduation requirements.

The effect of Schwarzenegger’s election on EC will take time to be seen.

“We just don’t know how the election will affect the budget,” EC president Dr. Thomas Fallo said.

Schwarzenegger takes office in January; it won’t be until then that changes to community college budgets will become known.

“We probably will not see any significant changes until January, when the new budget proposal is revealed,” Fallo said.

EC history professor Dr. Arthur Verge was a classmate of Schwarzenegger’s at Santa Monica Community College.

“Arnold is a product of the community college system,” Verge said. “He has appointed the president of the college to his advisory board, so I think that gives us a nice little tipoff that he is not going to ignore the community college situation as governor.

“In addition, our Lieutenant Governor, Cruz Bustamante, also went to a community college, so I think we’re seeing a significant shift in the awareness and value of community colleges.”

Schwarzenegger has often said he supports education, but he has yet to reveal how he plans to demonstrate that support. He has managed to maneuver through the election process with a poker face, but California’s community college students need him to show his hand.