diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 05e76c4caa..83e2b67655 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ conf/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/*.po
 !messages.po
 lms/static/sass/*.css
 lms/static/sass/application.scss
+lms/static/sass/course.scss
 cms/static/sass/*.css
 lms/lib/comment_client/python
 nosetests.xml
diff --git a/lms/static/sass/course.scss b/lms/static/sass/course.scss.mako
similarity index 73%
rename from lms/static/sass/course.scss
rename to lms/static/sass/course.scss.mako
index e57865fa9d..9d65505316 100644
--- a/lms/static/sass/course.scss
+++ b/lms/static/sass/course.scss.mako
@@ -4,6 +4,20 @@
 @import 'base/font_face';
 @import 'base/mixins';
 @import 'base/variables';
+
+## THEMING
+## -------
+## Set up this file to import an edX theme library if the environment
+## indicates that a theme should be used. The assumption is that the
+## theme resides outside of this main edX repository, in a directory
+## called themes/<theme-name>/, with its base Sass file in
+## themes/<theme-name>/static/sass/_<theme-name>.scss. That one entry
+## point can be used to @import in as many other things as needed.
+% if env.get('THEME_NAME') is not None:
+  // import theme's Sass overrides
+  @import '${env.get('THEME_NAME')}';
+% endif
+
 @import 'base/base';
 @import 'base/extends';
 @import 'base/animations';