PSU’s standards and guidelines are intended to assist the University with improving the on-campus experience for students, faculty, staff, and visitors. A Standards Committee, composed of representatives from across the institution, was established in 2012 to ensure that PSU’s standards and guidelines support the University's sustainability, safety, efficiency, flexibility and equity goals.

The following principles were developed by the Standards Committee to guide the development and improvement of standards and guidelines for the University:

• Reflect the long-term investment of physical resources and systems to maximize their useful life
• Promote PSU’s leadership role in sustainability by ensuring student, faculty and staff health and wellbeing, maximizing environmental benefits while minimizing environmental impacts and ensuring fiscal responsibility
• Express the learning outcomes of the University and promote student success by balancing the design of the University with its education and research functions
• Promote equity and inclusion through universal design, transparency and simplified processes
• Allow for flexibility and promote adaptation to account for an evolving pedagogy and changing student demographics