diff --git a/lib/WeBWorK/ContentGenerator/CourseAdmin.pm b/lib/WeBWorK/ContentGenerator/CourseAdmin.pm
index 9761e1eb90..ff67697c4b 100644
--- a/lib/WeBWorK/ContentGenerator/CourseAdmin.pm
+++ b/lib/WeBWorK/ContentGenerator/CourseAdmin.pm
@@ -294,8 +294,6 @@ sub do_add_course ($c) {
 
 	my $ce2 = WeBWorK::CourseEnvironment->new({ courseName => $add_courseID });
 
-	my %courseOptions;
-
 	my @users;
 
 	# copy users from current (admin) course if desired
@@ -392,15 +390,7 @@ sub do_add_course ($c) {
 
 	my $output = $c->c;
 
-	eval {
-		addCourse(
-			courseID      => $add_courseID,
-			ce            => $ce2,
-			courseOptions => \%courseOptions,
-			users         => \@users,
-			%optional_arguments,
-		);
-	};
+	eval { addCourse(courseID => $add_courseID, ce => $ce2, users => \@users, %optional_arguments,); };
 	if ($@) {
 		my $error = $@;
 		push(
diff --git a/lib/WeBWorK/Utils/CourseManagement.pm b/lib/WeBWorK/Utils/CourseManagement.pm
index 71808f3ded..3d002d86d6 100644
--- a/lib/WeBWorK/Utils/CourseManagement.pm
+++ b/lib/WeBWorK/Utils/CourseManagement.pm
@@ -126,10 +126,9 @@ sub listArchivedCourses {
 
 %options must contain:
 
- courseID      => course ID for the new course,
- ce            => a course environment for the new course,
- courseOptions => hash ref explained below
- users         => array ref explained below
+ courseID => course ID for the new course,
+ ce       => a course environment for the new course,
+ users    => array ref explained below
 
 %options may contain:
 
@@ -150,8 +149,6 @@ Create a new course with ID $courseID.
 $ce is a WeBWorK::CourseEnvironment object that describes the new course's
 environment.
 
-$courseOptions is a reference to a hash containing the following options:
-
 $users is a list of arrayrefs, each containing a User, Password, and
 PermissionLevel record for a single user:
 
@@ -183,11 +180,10 @@ sub addCourse {
 		debug("$key  : $value");
 	}
 
-	my $courseID      = $options{courseID};
-	my $sourceCourse  = $options{copyFrom} // '';
-	my $ce            = $options{ce};
-	my %courseOptions = %{ $options{courseOptions} // {} };
-	my @users         = exists $options{users} ? @{ $options{users} } : ();
+	my $courseID     = $options{courseID};
+	my $sourceCourse = $options{copyFrom} // '';
+	my $ce           = $options{ce};
+	my @users        = exists $options{users} ? @{ $options{users} } : ();
 
 	debug \@users;
 
@@ -428,7 +424,7 @@ sub addCourse {
 		my $courseEnvFile = $ce->{courseFiles}{environment};
 		open my $fh, ">:utf8", $courseEnvFile
 			or die "failed to open $courseEnvFile for writing.\n";
-		writeCourseConf($fh, $ce, %courseOptions);
+		writeCourseConf($fh);
 		close $fh;
 	}
 
@@ -1176,18 +1172,17 @@ sub protectQString {
 	return $string;
 }
 
-=item writeCourseConf($fh, $ce, %options)
+=item writeCourseConf($fh)
 
-Writes a course.conf file to $fh, a file handle, using defaults from the course
-environment object $ce and overrides from %options. %options can contain any of
-the pairs accepted in %courseOptions by addCourse(), above.
+Writes an essentially empty course.conf file to $fh, a file handle. System
+administrators can use this file to override global settings for a course.
 
 =back
 
 =cut
 
 sub writeCourseConf {
-	my ($fh, $ce, %options) = @_;
+	my ($fh) = @_;
 
 	print $fh <<'EOF';
 #!perl