diff --git a/src/classpath-openjdk.cpp b/src/classpath-openjdk.cpp
index f802abd347..4478159ef3 100644
--- a/src/classpath-openjdk.cpp
+++ b/src/classpath-openjdk.cpp
@@ -698,15 +698,6 @@ class MyClasspath : public Classpath {
 #else // not AVIAN_OPENJDK_SRC
     expect(t, loadLibrary(t, libraryPath, "verify", true, true));
     expect(t, loadLibrary(t, libraryPath, "java", true, true));
-#  ifndef PLATFORM_WINDOWS
-    // at one point, loading libmawt ahead of time was necessary to
-    // make AWT work, but recent versions of OpenJDK seem to take care
-    // of this from Java code, in which case loading it ahead of time
-    // actually causes trouble, so we comment it out for now until we
-    // know exactly when it's needed:
-
-    //loadLibrary(t, libraryPath, "mawt", true, true, false);
-#  endif
 #endif // not AVIAN_OPENJDK_SRC
 
     { object assertionLock = resolveField
diff --git a/src/compile.cpp b/src/compile.cpp
index 7a968e176b..2d1703b7f4 100644
--- a/src/compile.cpp
+++ b/src/compile.cpp
@@ -3234,7 +3234,11 @@ compileDirectInvoke(MyThread* t, Frame* frame, object target, bool tailCall)
 
   Compiler::Operand* result = 0;
 
-  if (emptyMethod(t, target)) {
+  // don't bother calling an empty method unless calling it might
+  // cause the class to be initialized, which may have side effects
+  if (emptyMethod(t, target)
+      and (not classNeedsInit(t, methodClass(t, target))))
+  {
     tailCall = false;
   } else {
     BootContext* bc = frame->context->bootContext;
diff --git a/test/Misc.java b/test/Misc.java
index 276fb56c21..22f7806b9e 100644
--- a/test/Misc.java
+++ b/test/Misc.java
@@ -23,6 +23,16 @@ public class Misc {
     }
   }
 
+  private static class Static {
+    static {
+      staticRan = true;
+    }
+
+    public static void run() { }
+  }
+
+  private static boolean staticRan;
+
   private static int alpha;
   private static int beta;
   private static byte byte1, byte2, byte3;
@@ -299,6 +309,10 @@ public class Misc {
     } catch (java.net.UnknownHostException e) {
       // cool
     }
+
+    expect(! staticRan);
+    Static.run();
+    expect(staticRan);
   }
 
   protected class Protected { }