State Board of Regents President Marvin Pomerantz’s comments to the Iowa State Faculty Senate earlier this week were encouraging, but didn’t go far enough.

In response to a question about future budget cuts, Pomerantz said, “Frankly, I don’t see downsizing in Iowa State’s future. I’d like to see Iowa State grow. I’d like to see the system grow. I’d like to see the system fully utilized. There is room in our system for more students.”

If that’s the case — if Pomerantz really anticipates no further downsizing — then why is yet another institutional audit being conducted? The last similar audit was in 1989. At that time, the KPMG Peat Marwick consulting firm recommended drastic cuts in academic programs.

The recommendations were highly contested and many were never implemented. And aside from stirring up a lot of ill will and resentment, the audit hasn’t drastically affected state-subsidized education in Iowa.

If Pomerantz feels the new audit will prompt no further cuts, what’s the point? The audits are costly, time consuming, invasive and most of all, unnecessary. They foster fear and detract from the educational process.

Since Pomerantz doesn’t anticipate changes anyway, junk the audit.