A. Full-time members of the faculty of each public college and university in the state shall be eligible to apply for sabbatical leaves for the purpose of professional or cultural improvement, for the purpose of study or research, or for the purpose of rest and recuperation, for the two semesters (fifty-two weeks for twelve-month employees) immediately following any six or more consecutive years of active service in the institution where such individual is employed or for the one semester (twenty-six weeks for twelve-month employees) immediately following any three or more consecutive years of such service, provided that absence on sick leave shall not be deemed to interrupt the active service herein provided for. A sabbatical leave taken during a summer shall be considered a semester for leave purposes.
B. At no time during any semester of an academic year shall the number of persons on leave at any public college or university in the state exceed five percent of the total faculty at said college or university.