When a course is no longer useful, the department should take the initiative to have it deactivated. To deactivate a course:

• log into the Course Inventory Management (CIM-C) system;
• type the course rubric and number of the course and search for the course;
• click the red Deactivate button on the left side;
• respond accordingly to the small set of questions;
  • Proposed Deactivation term
  • Justification for this deactivation: We encourage the justification to include why you are deactivating the course (if noting that it is no longer offered, include in your response why it is no longer being offered)  and the last time the course was offered.
  • Is this course listed in other programs and/or catalog pages outside the sponsoring department? Check the CIM Ecosystem, located above the General Information section in CIM-C for this course proposal.
    • If yes is selected,
      • review the CIM Ecosystem and notify the CIM Users in the Department Head Role for programs that reference the course, as they may be impacted by this deactivation. The CIM Ecosystem is the section above the General Information in CIM-C, which shows the catalog pages and programs that reference the course. While not required to use, we have provided a Letter of Acknowledgement template to use if needed; and
      • after completing the review/communication with the CIM Ecosystem as necessary, click the ‘Acknowledged’ check box
• click the green Save & Submit button to start the workflow approval process.

Once the Save & Submit button is clicked, CIM-C will route the deactivation request through the necessary departmental, college, and campus level workflow for review and approvals.

The Six-Ten (“6-10”) Policy provides a mechanism for reviewing course offerings for relevance and ongoing need. While units can pull their 6-10 reports at any time by visiting the DMI website, the Provost’s Office encourages colleges and schools to review these reports annually to maintain their courses and programs.

Courses on the 6-10 reports should be reviewed and if they meet any of the conditions bulleted below, should be considered for deactivation and thus removed from the Courses of Instruction within the Academic Catalog to ensure that the Catalog has an accurate listing of available courses:

• the course, regardless of level, has not been offered within the last three years – six academic terms plus three summer terms (Term Violations); or
• average enrollment for the last two successive offerings of the course is fewer than six in a 500-, 600-, or 700-level course OR fewer than 10 in a 100-, 200-, 300-, or 400-level course. Note that the last two terms offered need not be within the three-year period covered by the term violation above (Enrollment Violations).

Additionally, Enrollment Violations Warning will be noted if courses have only been offered once and enrollments were below the guidelines outlined above. These courses were not in violation at the time of review but may be in violation if enrollments are low when the courses are offered again. Registration statistics are based on enrollments as of the tenth day of class. The policy provides information to units to better understand faculty activity and course demand.

At a campus level, as of July 2025, there is no longer an exemption list, as colleges/schools tend to have the most direct and detailed information about these courses. This change will be reflected in the Spring 2026 DMI 6-10 reports. All 199 and 599 courses were previously and will continue to be granted permanent exclusion from the 6-10 reports. As such, as units do their reviews, colleges/schools may create their own internal exemption list for courses. Some examples of exemption categories that we had used (that you are welcome to use and add to at your discretion) include: thesis, individual instruction, seminar, internship, research, study abroad and honors seminar courses, courses that use Title VI funding, are part of the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) exchange, or service students in FLAS fellowships or the ROTC program. These are just a few examples and the Provost’s Office encourages colleges/schools to consider what makes sense for their own college, unit, and the courses involved.

Reactivation of a course is moving a deactivated course into active status within CIM-C such that a sponsor can offer the course again. To reactivate a course, contact the Office of the Registrar.

Once the Office of the Registrar locates the course, the sponsoring unit will need to move the course through CIM-C workflow as a course revision. Since it will not be obvious to a reviewer that it is a reactivation, sponsors should indicate in the justification that it is a reactivation, what term it was deactivated, and why it is now being reactivated. Additionally, a syllabus must be included. Unlike re-using a course number, there is no time limit from when a course was deactivated and when it can be reactivated.