A study examined college students' resistance decisions in the classroom. Initial validation tests of the resistance typology developed by N. Burroghs, P. Kearney and T. Plax (1989) confirmed the existence of all 19 resistance categories. Further analyses indicated that the categories could be meaningfully reduced to two dimensions: Teacher-Owned (teacher is at fault) and Student-Owned (student assumes responsibility) techniques. Relying on attribution theory and problem ownership, the centrality of teacher immediacy was tested as the primary attribute for the resistance decisions of 100 undergraduate students enrolled in 4 introductory communication classes at a large western university. Results indicated that students reported a greater likelihood of using teacher-owned techniques with nonimmediate teachers and student-owned strategies with immediate teachers. Neither teachers' compliance-gaining strategy type (prosocial/antisocial) nor students' gender contributed to students' resistance decisions. Results were explicated further with the triangulation of qualitative data. Findings suggest that teachers should practice verbal and nonverbal immediacy behaviors with their students. (Forty-four references and 6 tables of data are attached.) (Author/PRA)