The story is out that the U.S. Department of Education’s inspector general is scrutinizing Western Governors University (WGU), the nation’s largest competency-based university and a high-quality innovator. The audit is likely around whether the faculty interaction with students at WGU is “regular and substantive” enough to meet the Higher Education Act’s requirement for distance education.

This is a waste of time and taxpayer money and only serves to slow down the innovation that is so sorely needed in higher education.