After a series of rapes, the University of Montana has become the proving ground for the implementation of stringent, new sex harassment rules issued under Title IX.

Inside Higher Ed’s Allie Grasgreen has an update to the revised approach being taken by the federal government as the policy begins taking effect on the campus:

One little word made the University of Montana’s settlement agreement with the federal government different from all the others.

“Blueprint.”

With that, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education made Montana the model institution for responding to sexual harassment and assault, an issue that’s receiving more public and federal scrutiny than ever. It thrust Montana officials even further into the public spotlight than they already were, following a string of sexual assault reports, the most high-profile of which involved football players and accusations that administrators were sweeping the issue under the rug.

And in trying to comply with what some say is the most extensive settlement agreement ever put forth by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination on campuses, Montana is also caught up in claims by civil liberties advocates that the guidelines it’s been told to codify are overreaching and even violate the First Amendment.

…“’Blueprint’ is not really our designation and I hesitate to be put in that situation when what we are trying to do is just tend to our own situation,” Montana President Royce C. Engstrom said in an interview. “If other campuses around the country can benefit from our actions and our strategies, then that’s great. But each campus does have its own situation.”

But the “blueprint” designation, and the national scrutiny that came with it, has at times been tough on the campus, said Christine Fiore, a Montana psychology professor who advises Engstrom on addressing sexual violence.

“I think the students have been angry – they feel like they are suffering the consequences of a few people who are bad actors,” she said. There’s also been a good deal of frustration among the staff members who have worked on Title IX and sexual violence issues for years, who don’t deny there’s still work to be done but want to acknowledge what’s already changed, too. “I think sometimes the university has been tired of negative publicity.”

One official flat-out declined to talk about the blueprint status, saying it wouldn’t be appropriate as that’s the federal government’s designation.