Interesting. No, indeed, we can't use suiveur neutrally like this in French as far as I know.

We'd probably say un étudiant or une étudiante (a student) in this specific case. Or un membre (a member).

But we actually can follow a lesson (suivre un cours) without it being pejorative, so while the noun is probably always pejorative, the verb is generally not if not activated by context, as you say.