That doesn't really do what I need.
The original state hides the title by adding the .accesshide class, moving the title completely out of view.
My theme styles section titles with a background color and a border. While your solution succeeds at displaying nothing but a space, the element is still fully styled with the background and border of a section title.
What I really need is a way to add back the .accesshide class which was there when the course was initially created.
For what it's worth, I have done a little digging and the .accesshide class is specific to Moodle, not my theme.