This study examines systematically the development of faculty collective bargaining at 4-year colleges and universities since 1969. The changes in federal and state laws that made this development possible and the application of the law to higher education by federal and state labor boards are analyzed through extensive accounts of the circumstances surrounding the turn of faculty bargaining at a number of institutions. Presented in detail are the ways in which appropriate bargaining units have been determined; the role of the labor organizations that are encouraging faculty to turn to bargaining; faculty dissatisfactions that lead to a demand for bargaining; permissible activity by administrators during the precampaign period; the negotiation and administration of contracts; and the operation of grievance-arbitration systems. (Author/PG)