Many students said they understood why Frank walked out.

"I think she had every right to do it," Le said. "I mean, she's part of the academic and wanted people in the class to have done the reading and I can completely understand."

But others said that Frank, a first-year professor at Harvard, shouldn't have expected all students to have completed the day's assignment, since many students were still catching up with prior readings and did not expect a change to discussion oriented class.

"Obviously, nobody is going to do [the reading], especially if people hadn't done the reading for the first half of the course anyway," Epstein said.

"All she did for the first part was lecture on the reading and people took notes, and that's how it was with her class and that's how it is with every class," Epstein said.

In addition, the hands raised may not have reflected the number of students who actually did the reading, Lynn Y. Lee '99 said.

"I don't think it was very realistic to expect a response, not only because people hadn't done the reading, but because of the atmosphere," Lee said, citing the size of the class as discouraging participation.

"Some people are wondering if this sets a precedent for the other lectures and if she's going to keep this approach for the rest of the classes," Le said.

Some students applaud the change.

"In a sense, it was a really good thing that this happened," Bharti said. "Because that will cause people to do the reading and come to class more prepared to engage in meaningful conversation in class.