Chapter 73 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2010 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out section 4A and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

“SECTION 4A.  A faculty member in a state university who has served as such in the state universities for at least 6 years after entering such service or, if a leave of absence has previously been granted to such faculty member hereunder, after the termination of the last such leave or after the date such leave would have been completed but for a deferral of the leave may, upon written recommendation of the president of the university wherein the faculty member is employed, be granted by the board of trustees of the state university wherein the faculty member is employed, a leave of absence, for study and research, for a period of 1 year at half pay or for a period of a half year at full pay for such period; provided, however, that prior to the granting of such leave said faculty member shall enter into a written agreement with the board of trustees that upon the termination of such leave the faculty member will return to the state university service and serve as a faculty member in the same or another state university for a period equal to twice the length of such leave and that, in default of completing such service, the faculty member shall refund to the commonwealth, unless excused therefrom by the board of trustees for reasons satisfactory to it, an amount equal to such proportion of the salary received by the faculty member while on leave as the amount of service not actually rendered as agreed bears to the whole amount of service agreed to be rendered. For the purposes of this section, service in a state college, including The Teachers College of the City of Boston, shall be deemed to have been service in a state university.”