Following a period of erosion of faculty involvement in University policy making and threats to tenure, a groundswell of interest in collective bargaining (CB) arose on campus. AAUP (local and state) and the Faculty Legislative Representative lobbied in Olympia for enabling legislation, even assisting in drafting of bills. Although success seemed close on several occasions, it was always frustrated in the end.

The Chapter objective in CB at that time was not to displace the Senate, but rather to strengthen it, and to protect AAUP principles of academic freedom and tenure. The Chapter took the position that even without enabling legislation the Administration could enter into CB if it so wished. The Chapter chose the route of conducting a poll of the faculty. The Senate was persuaded to distribute and oversee the poll, and monitor the tabulation. Poll was conducted in May, 1975. The "ballot" had three parts. In abbreviated form, they were:

The participation was very strong, nearly 60% of eligible Faculty. Excluding blank ballots, the results were:

Armed with this strong showing, the local Chapter sought to engage the Administration in dialogue. President Hogness was not receptive. However in October of 1974 the Senate passed (57 to 39) a resolution calling upon the President "...to pursue the goals expressed by the faculty vote; and to establish, in negotiations with the American Association of University Professors and on behalf of the Board of Regents, fair and efficient procedures for collective bargaining." The President did meet with Chapter representatives in November 1975, and designated Vice-President Phillip Cartwright to represent him. A number of congenial meetings were held, some of which included Provost Irving Shane, who listened but did not participate. A memorandum of understanding was drafted and approved by both sides in December. It called for regular consultation between the Administration and AAUP concerning Faculty matters. Cartwright conveyed this to the President. Shane, who was silent through all of this, also went to the President and urged him to reject the memorandum and discontinue further dialogue. This is what the President did. Some months later, in what was described by some at the time as a "public hanging," Cartwright and some other administrators were summarily dismissed during a specially-called Presidential address.