The University of Montana, whose reputation has been tarnished in the wake of sexual assault charges, is doing everything from hiring a new media advisor to launching a tutorial on preventing sexual violence in campus to repair the damage done.

It appears that the university is getting one more opportunity to reverse its wrongs, if any.

U.S. Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women is awarding a grant of $300,000 to strengthen its existing policies and measures to curb violence against women on campus.

The grant is being awarded as a part of the provision in Violence Against Women Act, which was originally passed in 1994.

Incidentally, the department is one among the three agencies independently investigating the university and its dealings with respect to sexual assault reports on or near campus; NCAA and U.S. Department of Education being the other two.

The Department of Justice in particular is focusing on the alleged failure by the authorities in handling 80 reported rapes in the past three years in Missoula, many of them not related to the campus.

The university appears to be pleased to receive the grant. Recently, it launched a series of tutorials which are part of the training session titled 'Personal Empowerment Through Self-Awareness' which was mandatory for all the university students.

The university officials told to the Missoulian that the funds 'will help expand, reorganize and streamline the school's campus wide programs addressing violence.'

The grant will also help the university to hire a violence intervention director. The person designated to the job will have to work fulltime and the job will be funded for a year. The university said the new director will use evidence-based methods to intervene on student assault across the academic curriculum.

"Getting this grant is a very strong statement that we're trying to work proactively on this issue," said Beth Hubble, a professor of women's and gender studies at UM.

"It will allow us to expand existing programs on campus that have needed an infusion of funding to really make a difference. We're very happy to get this."

The grant will also support university's Men Can Stop Rape club.