diff --git a/lib/WeBWorK/ContentGenerator/CourseAdmin.pm b/lib/WeBWorK/ContentGenerator/CourseAdmin.pm
index d8a07e5867..15a7ed8d6c 100644
--- a/lib/WeBWorK/ContentGenerator/CourseAdmin.pm
+++ b/lib/WeBWorK/ContentGenerator/CourseAdmin.pm
@@ -1233,6 +1233,10 @@ sub unarchive_course_validate ($c) {
 		push @errors, $c->maketext('Course ID cannot exceed [_1] characters.', $ce->{maxCourseIdLength});
 	}
 
+	unless ($courseID =~ /^[\w-]*$/) {    # regex copied from CourseAdministration.pm
+		push @errors, $c->maketext('Course ID may only contain letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores.');
+	}
+
 	return @errors;
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/WeBWorK/Utils/CourseManagement.pm b/lib/WeBWorK/Utils/CourseManagement.pm
index dcefd4ddaa..f3466e82bb 100644
--- a/lib/WeBWorK/Utils/CourseManagement.pm
+++ b/lib/WeBWorK/Utils/CourseManagement.pm
@@ -505,11 +505,7 @@ sub renameCourse {
 	}
 
 	# get new course environment
-	my $newCE = $oldCE->new(
-		$oldCE->{webworkDirs}->{root},
-		$oldCE->{webworkURLs}->{root},
-		$oldCE->{pg}->{directories}->{root}, $newCourseID,
-	);
+	my $newCE = $oldCE->new({ courseName => $newCourseID });
 
 	# find the course dirs that still exist in their original locations
 	# (i.e. are not subdirs of $courseDir)