A federal jury ruled on Friday in favor of three former Texas Southern University students who said they were kicked out and arrested for helping to expose a financial mismanagement scandal that eventually led to the firing of Priscilla D. Slade as the university’s president, the Houston Chronicle reported.

After 12 hours of deliberations, the jury sided with the former students, William G. Hudson, Justin R. Jordan, and Oliver J. Brown. In 2005, the three men sued the university’s regents, Ms. Slade, and other officials, alleging that they were being retaliated against for publicly criticizing the administration. Among other things, the students had passed out fliers and helped investigators who were gathering information about the scandal.

Ms. Slade and a few other officials were later dropped from the case, which continued against the regents and four current and former university employees. Ms. Slade was fired in 2006 after an internal audit revealed that she had misspent $647,949 in university money on personal expenses over the previous seven years — a charge she denied. Her trial ended in a hung jury, and she later avoided a prison term by agreeing to a plea deal.

On Friday, the jury hearing the former students’ case awarded them actual damages totaling nearly $200,000. It is scheduled to return next week to decide on punitive damages.

“Some justice has been done,” said Patrick Gilpin, a former Texas Southern professor who represented the students in court. “While this award will not give them back the time they lost in their lives, they will have a reconciliation with TSU.” The lawyer for the state declined to comment. —Katherine Mangan