After a federal drug sting in May, law-enforcement authorities announced the arrests of 95 students at San Diego State University. But fewer than half of those arrested — including nonstudents — now face charges, and only a handful may go to jail, the Associated Press reported this week.

Twenty-two students accused of felonies have been expelled from San Diego State, and nine students charged with misdemeanors are on disciplinary probation, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The university has lifted three of its original six suspensions of fraternities implicated in the investigation, the local newspaper said.

Still, law-enforcement authorities have defended the bust, dubbed Operation Sudden Fall, and the publicity it generated.

“It’s worthwhile,” Damon Mosler, chief of the narcotics unit in the district attorney’s office, told the Union-Tribune. “We put a little bit of pressure on all university officials to say, ‘We’ve got to take this a little more seriously,’” he said.

San Diego State’s president, Stephen L. Weber, has stood by the university’s decision to call in federal officials for help with the investigation.

“We got good publicity and bad publicity,” he told the Union-Tribune. In terms of fund raising, he added, this year has been the university’s best ever. —Sara Lipka