diff --git a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/management/commands/delete_course.py b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/management/commands/delete_course.py
index bb38e72d44..e3cac7de02 100644
--- a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/management/commands/delete_course.py
+++ b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/management/commands/delete_course.py
@@ -21,18 +21,26 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
 '''Delete a MongoDB backed course'''
 
     def handle(self, *args, **options):
-        if len(args) != 1:
-            raise CommandError("delete_course requires one argument: <location>")
+        if len(args) != 1 and len(args) != 2:
+            raise CommandError("delete_course requires one or more arguments: <location> |commit|")
 
         loc_str = args[0]
 
+        commit = False
+        if len(args) == 2:
+          commit = args[1] == 'commit'
+
+        if commit:
+          print 'Actually going to delete the course from DB....'
+
         ms = modulestore('direct')
         cs = contentstore()
 
         if query_yes_no("Deleting course {0}. Confirm?".format(loc_str), default="no"):
           if query_yes_no("Are you sure. This action cannot be undone!", default="no"):
             loc = CourseDescriptor.id_to_location(loc_str)
-            if delete_course(ms, cs, loc) == True:
+            if delete_course(ms, cs, loc, commit) == True:
               print 'removing User permissions from course....'
               # in the django layer, we need to remove all the user permissions groups associated with this course
-              _delete_course_group(loc)            
+              if commit:
+                _delete_course_group(loc)            
diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/store_utilities.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/store_utilities.py
index 192b012bef..f08fdd639a 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/store_utilities.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/store_utilities.py
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ def clone_course(modulestore, contentstore, source_location, dest_location, dele
   return True
 
 
-def delete_course(modulestore, contentstore, source_location):
+def delete_course(modulestore, contentstore, source_location, commit = False):
     # first check to see if the modulestore is Mongo backed
   if not isinstance(modulestore, MongoModuleStore):
     raise Exception("Expected a MongoModuleStore in the runtime. Aborting....")
@@ -107,7 +107,8 @@ def delete_course(modulestore, contentstore, source_location):
     thumb_loc = Location(thumb["_id"])
     id = StaticContent.get_id_from_location(thumb_loc)
     print "Deleting {0}...".format(id)
-    contentstore.delete(id)
+    if commit:
+      contentstore.delete(id)
 
   # then delete all of the assets
   assets = contentstore.get_all_content_for_course(source_location)
@@ -115,7 +116,8 @@ def delete_course(modulestore, contentstore, source_location):
     asset_loc = Location(asset["_id"])
     id = StaticContent.get_id_from_location(asset_loc)
     print "Deleting {0}...".format(id)
-    contentstore.delete(id)
+    if commit:
+      contentstore.delete(id)
 
   # then delete all course modules
   modules = modulestore.get_items([source_location.tag, source_location.org, source_location.course, None, None, None])
@@ -123,10 +125,12 @@ def delete_course(modulestore, contentstore, source_location):
   for module in modules:
     if module.category != 'course':   # save deleting the course module for last
       print "Deleting {0}...".format(module.location)
-      modulestore.delete_item(module.location)
+      if commit:
+        modulestore.delete_item(module.location)
 
   # finally delete the top-level course module itself
   print "Deleting {0}...".format(source_location)
-  modulestore.delete_item(source_location)
+  if commit:
+    modulestore.delete_item(source_location)
 
   return True
diff --git a/rakefile b/rakefile
index 5647b5b13a..15692d0d99 100644
--- a/rakefile
+++ b/rakefile
@@ -415,7 +415,10 @@ end
 namespace :cms do
   desc "Delete existing MongoDB based course"
   task :delete_course do
-    if ENV['LOC']
+    
+    if ENV['LOC'] and ENV['COMMIT']
+        sh(django_admin(:cms, :dev, :delete_course, ENV['LOC'], ENV['COMMIT']))
+    elsif ENV['LOC']
       sh(django_admin(:cms, :dev, :delete_course, ENV['LOC']))
     else
       raise "You must pass in a LOC parameter"