"The usual reasons given are health or death in the family," Hankins says. "One must take such excuses seriously, though, I once had a student who made the mistake of killing off her mother twice in the same semester."

Hankins says that he understands that sometimes students' social lives can interfere with the desire to go to class but says that from the standpoint of a professor, no excuse is acceptable.

"When I was in college I missed at least 50 percent of my classes, but that was the 70s," Hankins says. "In this age of serious students I think the most likely explanation is the belief that one's friends' class notes are a good substitute for coming oneself. This, by the way, is a mistake. I have seen student notes from my own lectures before, and they often bear little or no relation to what

was said."

Bu Hankins says when he thinks about the opportunities afforded students in Harvard classrooms, skipping becomes "imponderable."

Government professor Andrew Moravcsik, who teaches Historical Study A-12: International Conflicts in the Modern World, says that Harvard students may be too busy to attend lecture but he regards section attendance as paramount to a student's success.

"Obviously in a class of over 200 the number of students at lectures fluctuates, but Professor [Stephen P.] Rosen and I neither monitor nor police lecture attendance," Moravcsik says. "Much of the learning takes place in section. We have a policy that if a student misses three section meetings unexcused, they fail. We enforce it."

To further encourage attendance, Moravcsik says that he includes information that was only presented in lecture on exams.