diff --git a/lms/envs/common.py b/lms/envs/common.py
index c071fa8..0bc9e1a 100644
--- a/lms/envs/common.py
+++ b/lms/envs/common.py
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ COURSEWARE_ENABLED = True
 ASKBOT_ENABLED = True
 GENERATE_RANDOM_USER_CREDENTIALS = False
 PERFSTATS = False
+DISCUSSION_SERVICE_ENABLED = True
 
 # Features
 MITX_FEATURES = {
@@ -52,6 +53,7 @@ MITX_FEATURES = {
 
     'ENABLE_TEXTBOOK' : True,
     'ENABLE_DISCUSSION' : True,
+    'ENABLE_DISCUSSION_SERVICE': True,
 
     'ENABLE_SQL_TRACKING_LOGS': False,
     'ENABLE_LMS_MIGRATION': False,
diff --git a/lms/templates/course_navigation.html b/lms/templates/course_navigation.html
index 5bd4f23..92a9f2f 100644
--- a/lms/templates/course_navigation.html
+++ b/lms/templates/course_navigation.html
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ def url_class(url):
 % if settings.MITX_FEATURES.get('ENABLE_TEXTBOOK'):
       <li class="book"><a href="${reverse('book', args=[course.id])}" class="${url_class('book')}">Textbook</a></li>
 % endif
-% if settings.MITX_FEATURES.get('ENABLE_DISCUSSION'):
+% if settings.MITX_FEATURES.get('ENABLE_DISCUSSION_SERVICE'):
       <li class="discussion"><a href="${reverse('django_comment_client.forum.views.forum_form_discussion', args=[course.id, course.id.replace('/', '_').replace('.', '_')])}" class="${url_class('discussion')}">Discussion</a></li>
       <li class="news"><a href="${reverse('news', args=[course.id])}" class="${url_class('news')}">News</a></li>
 % endif 
diff --git a/lms/templates/discussion/_inline.html b/lms/templates/discussion/_inline.html
index 0fb3fe3..85482e4 100644
--- a/lms/templates/discussion/_inline.html
+++ b/lms/templates/discussion/_inline.html
@@ -3,8 +3,7 @@
 
 <section class="discussion inline-discussion" _id="${discussion_id}">
 
-  <div class="discussion-non-content discussion-local">
-  </div>
+  <div class="discussion-non-content discussion-local"></div>
 
   <div class="threads">
     % for thread in threads:
diff --git a/lms/urls.py b/lms/urls.py
index 4f1a7c5..21a93f3 100644
--- a/lms/urls.py
+++ b/lms/urls.py
@@ -136,17 +136,22 @@ if settings.COURSEWARE_ENABLED:
             'courseware.views.profile', name="profile"),
         url(r'^courses/(?P<course_id>[^/]+/[^/]+/[^/]+)/profile/(?P<student_id>[^/]*)/$',
             'courseware.views.profile'),
-        url(r'^courses/(?P<course_id>[^/]+/[^/]+/[^/]+)/news$', 
-            'courseware.views.news', name="news"),
-
-        # discussion
-        url(r'^courses/(?P<course_id>[^/]+/[^/]+/[^/]+)/discussion/',
-            include('django_comment_client.urls')),
+        
         # For the instructor
         url(r'^courses/(?P<course_id>[^/]+/[^/]+/[^/]+)/gradebook$',
             'courseware.views.gradebook'),        
     )
 
+    # discussion forums live within courseware, so courseware must be enabled first
+    if settings.DISCUSSION_SERVICE_ENABLED:
+
+        urlpatterns += (
+            url(r'^courses/(?P<course_id>[^/]+/[^/]+/[^/]+)/news$', 
+                'courseware.views.news', name="news"),
+            url(r'^courses/(?P<course_id>[^/]+/[^/]+/[^/]+)/discussion/',
+                include('django_comment_client.urls'))
+            )
+
     # Multicourse wiki
 if settings.WIKI_ENABLED:
     urlpatterns += (
@@ -167,6 +172,7 @@ if settings.ASKBOT_ENABLED:
                               )
 
 
+
 if settings.DEBUG:
     ## Jasmine
     urlpatterns=urlpatterns + (url(r'^_jasmine/', include('django_jasmine.urls')),)