21-1-8: [Eligibility for retirement pension.]

When any member of the faculty or other employee of any one of said institutions shall have taught or rendered service for not less than twenty (20) years in the schools of this state, the last ten (10) years of which service shall have been rendered at the institution retiring such person, and when such person shall have reached or passed the age of sixty (60) years, he or she shall have the right to request retirement and receive thereafter the full pension provided by this act, and after any such person who has rendered the service hereinabove described shall have reached or passed the age of sixty-five (65) years, the regents or governing body of said institution shall have the right in their discretion to order the retirement of such person with the maximum pension hereinabove set forth; provided, that when any member of the faculty or other employee of any one of said institutions shall have taught or rendered service for not less than twenty-five (25) years in the same institution, such person shall be eligible to request retirement and receive the pension provided when he or she shall have reached or passed the age of fifty-five (55) years.