I had not heard that, and am intrigued and would like to hear more. Our dept. is creating a certificate (internal thing, 18 hours allows one to teach AP/Dual credit and community college in Texas, and so we're creating a certificate, but that's a step toward a larger program, YAY new dept head).

A thesis that could not be published--well, wipe off a few serial numbers! I imagine very few creative writing theses are published *as is.*! If that was their main objection--wow. I know a number of creative writing departments forbid any popular genre writing period, especially sf/fantasy.