I had this discussion with some Interior Designers and if the impact was some sort of institutional discrimination. When I visited Bolivia one of the major universities is kinda pushing for a similar notion. In that case I really saw a trouble because there inst a strong public university with a good design program and most of the design work comes from designers without a 4 year program education. I can see why there is that necessity to separate the academic with the empirical but hey, that's a great way to create a very ethnocentric expression of what design means for a culture.

On the other hand, interior designers do handle spaces that could potentially could put people in danger if the spaces are not designed properly. This is not to say that a messed up wayfinding system will not kill a bunch of people if it doesn't communicate concisely as a design. (killer graphics) And also with environmental design does is starting to creep in this realm of designing spaces. So I can see both implications. Graphic Design is so loosely defined I don't think we are anywhere near coming to a peaceful consensus.

Great Topic.