It appears that Empathy classes can now be started without the student needing to Link with the teacher. The class ends on the first teaching pulse though...the student gets a "<Teacher> stops teaching" message while the Teacher gets the standard "all your students have left..." thing. If the student Links with the teacher, the class proceeds as expected. It seems like there should at least be some explanatory messaging that tells what happened to the class when it ends due to a lack of the necessary Link, and I can't seem to recall if the old system even let you try to start the class without first having the appropriate Link in place.
Thanks,
-War Healer Karthor