BELLESILES UPDATE: The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting that Bellesiles will be gone for a year, not just the Fall semester as reported earlier. (You have to be an online subscriber to read the story, but the headline is on the front page.)

Some readers suggest that they’re just getting him off campus as a prelude to a buyout/severance deal. Well, maybe — though why Emory would want to “buy out” a guy who’s been credibly accused of fraud (and who obviously hasn’t been exonerated by their intensive investigation) is beyond me. I suppose the answer will be forthcoming eventually.

UPDATE: Eugene Volokh has found the explanation for the whole affair.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader who has an online subscription says that although the headline says a year, the article says he’s on leave for a semester. Uh, okay.