diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/store_utilities.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/store_utilities.py
index 6beffcb71d..89dca0c325 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/store_utilities.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/store_utilities.py
@@ -102,7 +102,27 @@ def clone_course(modulestore, contentstore, source_location, dest_location, dele
     return True
 
 
+def _delete_modules_except_course(modulestore, modules, source_location, commit):
+    """
+    This helper method will just enumerate through a list of modules and delete them, except for the
+    top-level course module
+    """
+    for module in modules:
+        if module.category != 'course':
+            print "Deleting {0}...".format(module.location)
+            if commit:
+                # sanity check. Make sure we're not deleting a module in the incorrect course
+                if module.location.org != source_location.org or module.location.course != source_location.course:
+                    raise Exception('Module {0} is not in same namespace as {1}. This should not happen! Aborting...'.format(module.location, source_location))
+                modulestore.delete_item(module.location)
+
+
 def delete_course(modulestore, contentstore, source_location, commit=False):
+    """
+    This method will actually do the work to delete all content in a course in a MongoDB backed
+    courseware store. BE VERY CAREFUL, this is not reversable.
+    """
+
     # first check to see if the modulestore is Mongo backed
     if not isinstance(modulestore, MongoModuleStore):
         raise Exception("Expected a MongoModuleStore in the runtime. Aborting....")
@@ -131,12 +151,11 @@ def delete_course(modulestore, contentstore, source_location, commit=False):
 
     # then delete all course modules
     modules = modulestore.get_items([source_location.tag, source_location.org, source_location.course, None, None, None])
+    _delete_modules_except_course(modulestore, modules, source_location, commit)
 
-    for module in modules:
-        if module.category != 'course':   # save deleting the course module for last
-            print "Deleting {0}...".format(module.location)
-            if commit:
-                modulestore.delete_item(module.location)
+    # then delete all draft course modules
+    modules = modulestore.get_items([source_location.tag, source_location.org, source_location.course, None, None, 'draft'])
+    _delete_modules_except_course(modulestore, modules, source_location, commit)
 
     # finally delete the top-level course module itself
     print "Deleting {0}...".format(source_location)
@@ -144,4 +163,3 @@ def delete_course(modulestore, contentstore, source_location, commit=False):
         modulestore.delete_item(source_location)
 
     return True
-