While still on probation for hazing violations, the Chain Gang Junior Honorary is turning a punishment into a positive, and being rewarded for it.

Chain Gang received a $200 award Wednesday for drafting a proposal that provides campus clubs with alternatives to hazing.

The Dean of Students Office established the award this year to encourage clubs and organizations on campus to think of creative ways to get new members involved without hazing them.

Marc Viscardi, president of Chain Gang, said the club was extremely proud to win the award, especially since Chain Gang has been punished for hazing and alcohol violations in the past.

"We are in a refocusing period right now," said Viscardi, a creative writing and journalism major. "We're glad someone's seeing all the hard work we've put into giving our club a better image."

The Dean of Students Office put Chain Gang on probation last year after the club asked new members to participate in a scavenger hunt as part of

orientation and initiation week.

Because only new members participated in the scavenger hunt, the activity was considered hazing, said Celia Sepulveda, director of education and outreach for the Dean of Students Office.

Chain Gang was also punished for alcohol violations, and the club is banned from having alcohol at any of its official events this semester.

"We are really concerned about getting in more trouble," Viscardi said. "We don't want to ruin Chain Gang's reputation on campus."

The UA defines hazing as "any intentional, knowing or reckless act committed by a student, whether individually or in concert with other persons, against another student."

Any act committed in connection with club initiation or membership, which might result in physical or mental harm or personal degradation of a student is considered hazing, according to UA policy and procedure.

Viscardi said it is important to distinguish between "big H" and "little h" hazing.Big H hazing refers to initiation activities that present an obvious threat to a student's health or safety, while little h hazing refers to activities that don't pose an obvious threat but have the potential to single out new members and make them feel uncomfortable, Sepulveda said.

"We don't want our new members to feel alienated," Viscardi said. "We don't want them to feel uncomfortable."

Viscardi said he and the 34 other members of Chain Gang worked together to come up with teambuilding activities that would not be considered hazing.

"We revamped our activities and took out some things that we thought students might not be comfortable with," Viscardi said.

For example, Chain Gang members decided that old members would participate in a community service event during initiation and orientation. In the past, new members participated in the event as old members "supervised," Viscardi said.

Terry Holthusen, program coordinator of judicial affairs for the Dean of Students Office said that Chain Gang's efforts to come up with hazing alternatives shows that the club is working to fix their own problems with hazing.

"They were held accountable and they took responsibility," she said. "It really reflects on the fact that they learned

something from their situation."

Holthusen said punishments for hazing depend on the severity of the instance but said the maximum punishment would be for a club to lose university recognition.

Viscardi said that would be the ultimate nightmare for Chain Gang, a club that has been present on campus since 1926.

Sepulveda said the Dean of Students established the award this year as a way to support clubs who are trying to stop

hazing. "We wanted to show that this issue is important to us, and that we want to work with students," she said.

Sepulveda said many of the activities suggested in Chain Gang's proposal, such as inviting alumni guest speakers to campus or participating in a ropes course as a club, could be used by any organizations on campus.

She said the Dean of Students Office plans to advertise the proposal on the Dean of Students Web site, and she said she plans to forward a copy of the proposal to greek life.

Only one other student organization submitted a proposal to the Dean of Students Office, Sepulveda said.