The SIUC rugby team is on probation and required to donate time to community service following the Illinois Rugby Football Union’s investigation of a six-page feature story in Playboy magazine.

However, Christen Kraft Long, a senior in history from Gurnee, was reinstated as the team’s captain after a temporary suspension during the September investigation.

The October article, written from a week-long visit in November, focused on the team’s drinking habits, rowdy dispositions, hazing rituals and troubled personal lives. It also included tales of nude drink-until-you-puke contests, video pornography, bar fights and troubled family lives.

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The team cried foul upon the article’s publication, saying the team and sport were misrepresented.

Investigations by both the Illinois Rugby Football Union and the University support the team’s claims.

The writer was looking for a sensational article, and he got it, Illinois Rugby Football Union President Steve Montez said. He took a compilation of war stories and made them seem as if they all happened in one night.

The University’s investigation included interviews of everyone named in the story or who attended the party depicted. Both investigations were concluded Sept. 21, and the University took no action against the team or any students.

From the statements taken, their stories were totally different than those in the article, Harvey Welch, vice chancellor of Student Affairs, said. I talked to the team’s adviser, who was working with Illinois Rugby, that [Long] should be reinstated.

It looked like some former members of the team came down that week and told some stories about the good old days.

Montez said the Union’s disciplinary committee penalized the team because it went against the Union’s suggestion to not take part in the story.

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The team’s unspecified probation prohibits the team from serving alcoholic beverages at any team-sponsored event, Montez said. The team must also be involved with two community service projects within a year, but Montez said the extent of that commitment to the community service only goes as far as involvement.

We feel they executed poor judgment in having the journalist down to SIUC, he said. They were warned. I told them that no good could come from this article. [The writer] said SIUC was the first stop of many across the country, but we knew that wasn’t true from the beginning.

If the team violates these conditions, Montez said it will appear before the disciplinary committee again, but he declined to speculate on possible actions against the team.

The team also named a new faculty adviser last month as part of the process that the former adviser, Bill McMinn, described as a common rotation among club teams.

Mark Wetstein, the new faculty adviser, said he is not concerned with future behavior problems because the team has taken positive steps forward to enhance its image.

Welch said the incident serves as a wake up call to all faculty advisers to know what is going on during the club’s social events.

I talked to the rugby team eight or nine years ago and told them that their behavior at these parties was wild and bizarre and to tone it down, Welch said. They did that then and are continuing to focus on becoming better rugby players.