Purpose: Although the threat of protest may be a barrier toward implementing a tobacco policy on college campuses in the USA, the prevalence and severity of such opposition has yet to be investigated. The purpose of this paper was to determine how often campus communities protest against smoke-free policies and rate the disruptiveness of the protests. Design/methodology/approach: Researchers located and analyzed news reports regarding 21 protests over newly implemented or proposed policies on college campuses in the USA. Findings: Protests over college campus smoking policies are typically non-disruptive and consist of a small group of students who publicly smoke tobacco products and attempt to gain support of fellow students. Practical implications: Those advocating for campus tobacco policies should be aware that the campus community may protest, but that a heightened concern of a protest's effect on the campus community may be unfounded. Originality/value: To authors' knowledge, research studies regarding opposition to anti-tobacco policies cannot be found in the literature. This paper may be used as a practical resource by advocates to educate campus administrators about the low turnout and lack of severity of any possible protest to a new campus tobacco policy.