NIU has got car problems.

University officials must give up the exclusive use of cars assigned to them because of an auditor’s findings released last February.

The Board of Regents regulations state the president and Regents chancellor “shall be furnished with an automobile, which shall be for personal, local use and official business only.”

But somewhere along the line five additional cars were issued to NIU officials including one vice president, one dean, the athletics director and two football coaches.

NIU Transportation Supervisor Bill Finucane said the five cars must be returned by the end of the week based on a state audit, which is conducted every two years.

According to officials who drove the cars, however, their contracts provided for the cars. William Young, dean of continuing education since 1984, said he received his car upon taking the position.

“I don’t know what brought this on,” he said. “I don’t advocate abuses. I haven’t heard anything (about abuse of the car benefit), but I’m assuming there’s some kind of problem.”

Finucane said there have been problems. “Every now and then the cars are used for personal uses like going to the store, or running family errands. There are also rare cases like using a vehicle to move, and that’s a waste of taxpayers’ money,” he said.

Young said, “The Board of Regents should re-look at this policy. I have to ask the question ‘do the Regents want to run as a university or a high school?'”

He said, “This goes against where the university should be going. These (cars) were conveniences to do our jobs better. The University of Illinois has a fleet of airplanes, let alone cars, and the college of continuing education at Penn State alone has its own fleet of cars.”

Tom Montiegel, vice president of development and university relations, also had to return his car, and said when he became vice president more than three years ago, it wasn’t his understanding that only the president was to have a car.

Montiegel said because his job requires traveling sometimes beginning at 7 a.m. and ending at 8 p.m., taking away the car makes his job difficult. Now to check a car out from the transportation department, he must fill out paper work and move in advance to reserve a car.