The following words and phrases when used in this article shall, for the purpose of this article, have the following meanings, respectively, except in those instances where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
(1) “Affiliated entity” shall mean a private nonprofit corporation with the sole purpose of benefiting the State System of Higher Education or a State-owned university.
(1.1) “Board” shall mean the Board of Governors of the State System of Higher Education.
(2) “Chancellor” shall mean the chief executive officer of the State System of Higher Education.
(3) “Coalition bargaining” shall mean two (2) or more employers bargaining jointly with all of their employes in a particular category or bargaining unit so that one collective process would determine the conditions of employment for all employers in the appropriate units involved.
(4) “Commission” shall mean the presidents of the several institutions.
(4.1) “Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania” shall mean the institution comprised of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania and Mansfield University of Pennsylvania as consolidated under section 2002-A.1
(5) “Council” shall mean the council of trustees of the individual institutions.
(6) “Deferment” shall mean any authorized delay in the payment by a student of all or part of his tuition fee, charges for room and board, application fee, student activity fee, or any other charge or fee.
(6.1) “Education record” shall have the same meaning as in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (Public Law 90-247, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g).
(7) “Employer” shall mean the Board of Governors of the State System of Higher Education as the successor employer to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
(8) “Graduate assistant” means a graduate student appointed by the president and assigned to a faculty or staff member to assist in research, instruction and other related professional duties.
(9) “Higher education” shall include any organized program of instruction, research or service primarily concerned with a field of organized knowledge, related theory, and associated practice or application of skills and which leads to a degree; that is, the work is creditable toward a degree.
(9.1) “Initial member” shall mean a trustee serving on the council of trustees as of June 30, 2022, for an institution consolidated under section 2002-A that has been nominated and appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate.
(10) “Institution” shall mean each of the State-owned colleges and university on the effective date hereof, or hereafter created, and including its personnel, and its physical plant, instructional equipment, records and all other property thereof.
(10.1) “Integrated council” shall mean each of the following:
(1) The Council of Trustees of Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania.
(2) The Council of Trustees of Pennsylvania Western University.
(10.2) “Pennsylvania Western University” shall mean the institution comprised of California University of Pennsylvania, Clarion University of Pennsylvania and Edinboro University of Pennsylvania as consolidated under section 2002-A.
(11) “Professional employe” for the purposes of this act, professional employe means any employe whose work:
(i) is predominately intellectual and varied in character;
(ii) requires consistent exercise of discretion and judgment;
(iii) requires knowledge of an advanced nature in the field of science or learning customarily acquired by specialized study in an institution of higher learning or its equivalent; and
(iv) is of such character that the output or result accomplished cannot be standardized in relation to a given period of time.
(12) “Refund” shall mean any return payment, or remission, by an institution to a student of all or part of any sum he has paid for tuition, room and board, application or student activity fee or any other charge or fee.
(13) “Secretary” shall mean the Secretary of Education of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or such person as the secretary may designate to act on behalf of the secretary with regard to any of the duties and prerogatives imposed by this act.
(14) “State board” shall mean the State Board of Education.
(15) “Student” shall mean a person who is enrolled in a course of study in any institution which is subject to the provisions hereof.
(16) “Student association” shall mean the officially recognized representative body of the student population of each institution.
(17) “System” shall mean the State System of Higher Education.
(17.1) “Transitional member” shall mean a trustee serving on the council of trustees as of June 30, 2022, for an institution consolidated under section 2002-A, who is appointed to serve on an integrated council for a term beginning on July 15, 2022, until September 30, 2022, or upon confirmation of initial members by the Senate, whichever occurs earlier.
(18) “Waiver” shall mean any release from initial payment by a student of all or part of his tuition, charge for room and board, application or student activity fee or any other charge or fee.
(19) “Maintenance projects” shall mean those activities, materials, labor and contracts necessary to replace, restore, refurbish or enhance real property which do not alter the architectural or engineering characteristics of the structure, as follows: painting; window repair and replacement; roof repair and replacement; repointing and masonry repair; downspout and gutters; landscaping; roadways, parking facilities, track and athletic court resurfacing and reconstruction; sidewalk and curbing reconstruction and replacement; asbestos abatement (in accordance with all State and Federal statutes and regulations); caulking and insulation; and replacement, reconstruction and construction of non-load bearing interior walls. No such project shall affect the structural integrity of any existing facility or utility system.
(20) “Campus police” shall mean all law enforcement personnel employed by the system who have successfully completed a campus police course of training approved under 53 Pa.C.S. Ch. 21 Subch. D2 (relating to municipal police education and training).
(21) “Grounds” shall mean all lands and buildings owned, controlled, leased or managed by the system and all highways, trafficways and bicycle and pedestrian facilities that traverse or abut such lands and buildings.
