Emory professor quits after probe into possible academic fraud

ATLANTA - An Emory University professor resigned after an academic panel skewered his research for a controversial book about the history of guns in America. <br> <br> Michael Bellesiles, a history professor, said in a statement he ``cannot continue to teach in what I feel is a hostile environment.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> He said the controversy surrounding his book, ``Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture,&#39;&#39; had made it impossible for him to continue his research and teaching. <br> <br> Emory officials said Bellesiles&#39; resignation takes effect Dec. 31. He was on paid administrative leave throughout the fall semester. <br> <br> The 40-page report, released Friday, concluded that Bellesiles was ``guilty of unprofessional and misleading work&#39;&#39; in his research. <br> <br> The report, written by scholars from Harvard, Princeton and the University of Chicago, said Bellesiles&#39; failure to cite sources for crucial data ``does move into the realm of &#39;falsification.&#39;&#39;&#39; It also suggested he omitted other researchers&#39; data that contradicted his arguments. <br> <br> Bellesiles denied the charges. <br> <br> ``I have never fabricated evidence of any kind nor knowingly evaded my responsibilities as a scholar,&#39;&#39; he said. <br> <br> Bellesiles&#39; book received national attention for its contention that early Americans did not own or use firearms in great numbers. <br> <br> Gun-rights had advocates had criticized the book, and scholars had suggested the author made serious errors, prompting Emory to form in February an investigative panel including scholars from Harvard, Princeton and the University of Chicago wrote the report. <br> <br> Bellesiles is one of several historians and professors to be accused recently of academic fraud. <br> <br> In June, former Harvard professor Doris Kearns Goodwin resigned from the Pulitzer Prize board, four months after she acknowledged parts of a book she wrote were taken from another author without attribution. <br> <br> In February, professor Louis W. Roberts resigned as chairman of the classics department and director of the doctoral program in humanistic studies at the University at Albany in New York. He had been accused of plagiarizing more than 50 pages of Latin translations from two other scholars. <br> <br> In January, retired professor Stephen Ambrose acknowledged that some sentences in his best seller ``The Wild Blue&#39;&#39; were copied from ``Wings of Morning,&#39;&#39; another book about World War II bomber pilots by Thomas Childers, a University of Pennsylvania professor.