Eight days ago, Chancellor Victor Boschini said he learned an undercover drug investigation was taking place at TCU.

Boschini said he received a call at 6:20 a.m. Wednesday informing him that students had been arrested on suspicion of dealing drugs, and the university’s crisis management was underway. A campus-wide email notified students of the arrests at 8:05 a.m., and at 9:30 a.m., the university held a press conference to address the matter.

Local network affiliates interrupted their morning programming to report that Fort Worth and TCU police arrested 17 current and two former TCU students Wednesday morning following a six-month investigation. It is now confirmed by Fort Worth Police 16 arrests have been made, one student is at-large and only one former student has been arrested.

“TCU should be commended because TCU has adhered to rule one in crisis management: tell the truth, and tell it fast,” associate professor of journalism Amiso George said.

George, who specializes in crisis management, said the university did all the right things. It remained transparent, took quick action and separated the alleged offenders.

During Wednesday’s press conference, Boschini said, “I think most of our administration is big on transparency in general… because of social media and everything; nothing’s a secret.”

George said it was important that Boschini remained the one voice of the university.

The university announced that all questions would be directed to Boschini.

In addition, Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communication Tracy Syler-Jones said she hired a consultant, Teresa Valerio Parrot, through the Counsel for Advancement and Support of Education to help with the situation. Syler-Jones said she recognized her staff of 24 would need some additional help staying on top of the stories as information was made available.

“In this situation, we definitely needed some additional resources,” Syler-Jones said. “We knew it was probably going to be a little extensive for us.”

The story brought media outlets from the Dallas-Fort Worth area to campus, but some time after the press conference, reporters said they were asked to move off campus.

Student organizations, such as fraternities and sororities, sent emails to members reminding them to follow their respective organizations’ procedures for speaking with media.

Students expressed opinions elsewhere about the university’s situation via Twitter, and “TCU” was trending all day in Dallas-Fort Worth.

George said that unlike recent crises at universities such as Penn State or Syracuse, TCU told the public exactly what was going on and what it was doing.

“It is always better to nip something in the bud before it becomes an issue, before the issue becomes a crisis,” George said.