Faculty Unions Slam 3-Year Degrees

AAUP President Todd Wolfson (right) and AFT President Randi Weingarten wrote a joint statement lambasting three-year degrees.

Jemal Countess/Getty Images for MomsRising | Ryan Quinn/Inside Higher Ed

Merrimack College and Suffolk University will be the first institutions in Massachusetts to offer three-year bachelor’s degrees after winning approval from the state’s Board of Higher Education on Friday. But not everyone is celebrating.

The American Association of University Professors and American Federation of Teachers slammed the state’s decision and three-year bachelor’s degrees in general in a scathing statement issued Monday, wading into the debate over accelerated degrees.

The approval of these degrees “threatens academic integrity by substituting for a comprehensive education a stripped-down curriculum that prioritizes speed over essential intellectual development,” AAUP President Todd Wolfson and AFT President Randi Weingarten wrote. “This move may initially create the illusion of reducing costs, but it ignores the root causes of skyrocketing higher education tuition.”