A group of chanting protesters surprised the Iowa Board of Regents meeting in Iowa City Wednesday.

Around one dozen coat-clad students chanted “Ditch DeLoitte (Dee-Loyt) , stop the audit” before being ushered from the room. They were making reference to the auditing firm hired to study the operations on the three state-supported universities to find ways to be more efficient and save money. Regents president, Bruce Rastetter, told reporters the board is inviting public involvement in the efficiency studies

University of Iowa President Sally Mason says after the meeting that opposition to the efficiency study is news to her.

The Regents are initially paying two-and-a-half million dollars for the efficiency study. They’ve been told DeLoitte’s studies usually return six-to-ten times that investment in savings.