The effects of a new policy limiting smoking to separate, designated a
reas in School of Education buildings at the University of Koln, Germa
ny, were analyzed. Although the majority (77%) of the 1,223 students s
urveyed did not expect the changed policy to affect their smoking habi
ts, approximately 28% of the men and 30% of the women said they were s
moking less at the university after the change went into effect. Ninet
y-one percent of the nonsmoking students and 68% of the smokers suppor
ted the new policy. Smoking rates among Koln students are not signific
antly different from those of the adult German population, where 34% o
f the women and 41% of the men are smokers. The findings in this study
indicate that such a policy change may result in a net decrease in am
ount smoked and could be a successful intervention in countries where
smoking rates are traditionally higher than they are in the United Sta
tes.