diff --git a/tock/tock/settings/base.py b/tock/tock/settings/base.py
index bd31d3e1a..967e72793 100644
--- a/tock/tock/settings/base.py
+++ b/tock/tock/settings/base.py
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@
 
 
 MIDDLEWARE = (
+    'whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware',
     'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
     'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
     'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
diff --git a/tock/tock/wsgi.py b/tock/tock/wsgi.py
index 6b17c377f..0d337174e 100644
--- a/tock/tock/wsgi.py
+++ b/tock/tock/wsgi.py
@@ -25,8 +25,5 @@ def initialize_newrelic():
 initialize_newrelic()
 
 from django.core.wsgi import get_wsgi_application
-# important that the whitenoise import is after the line above
-from whitenoise.django import DjangoWhiteNoise
 
 application = get_wsgi_application()
-application = DjangoWhiteNoise(application)