"Public institution of higher education" has the meaning provided in Section 1 of the Board of Higher Education Act.
"State agency" means all departments, officers, commissions, boards, institutions, and bodies politic and corporate of the State. "State agency" does not include the judicial branch, including, without limitation, the courts of the State, the office of the clerk of the Supreme Court and the clerks of the appellate court, and the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, or the legislature, its agencies, or its committees or commissions.
30 ILCS 574/40-20