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Self Plagiarism Help Needed Urgently

Hi,
I would like your advice on an issue I am facing. I have ben accused of academic misconduct by the university because I used some definitions in my final dissertation which were previously used by me in an earlier assignment. I can't understand this rule. As I have not cheated and used the definitions which may have been used previously by myself hence they are my own intellectual property. How can I cheat from using my own words. I have done a bit of research on self plagiarism and found out that If the work being re-used has been published it cannot be used or more than 50% of work from a previously submitted work cannot be used in a new assignment. I have the hearing with the university on two weeks time and am really confused. Being an International student the concept of plagiarism is not new to me but the concept of Self Plagiarism is. I have never heard about it before and I had even informed my Program Leader of re-using the definitions when I submitted my dissertation. Please let me know what you guys think I should do???
We were never told about this form of plagiarism during the academic writing classes although plagiarism was stressed a lot