Columbia University distanced itself from Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of over 80 university student groups, after it posted “death to America” in Farsi in response to U.S. strikes on Iran, denying that current students are behind the account. 

“Marg bar Amrika,” CUAD posted on X on Saturday after U.S. and Israel’s joint strikes killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader — using a phrase that was frequently invoked by Khamenei. The post was deleted, but CUAD doubled down, writing in a new post, “X forced us to delete our ‘marg bar amrika’ tweet in order to gain back access to our account but the sentiment still stands.”

Columbia responded that “the group that calls itself ‘CUAD’ is not a recognized student group, or affiliated in any way with the University.”

“There is no evidence that anyone currently in control of their account is a current Columbia student, staff, or faculty member. They are illegally using the Columbia name,” the university said in a statement. 

But a source familiar with the university’s actions told Jewish Insider that Columbia does not know who controls the account.

Last year, Columbia served the email associated with CUAD’s social media accounts with a cease and desist letter and sent takedown requests to the social media platforms carrying them, the source said.

CUAD then changed its account name from Columbia University Apartheid Divest to CU Apartheid Divest, stopped using an alma mater logo, changed its status on X to be a “commentary account” and added a statement to its bio about being “proudly unrecognized” by Columbia. 

The source said the university is continuing to pursue all available legal action on the matter. 

CUAD was formed in 2016 and gained renewed support since Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. It consists of groups run by current Columbia students, including Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, Student Workers of Columbia and Columbia Social Workers for Palestine. In an updated statement on Sunday evening, Columbia said that currently recognized student groups cannot affiliate with CUAD. 

Columbia announced last July — about a week before it reached a settlement with the  Trump administration to restore federal funding — that it would no longer recognize CUAD, which organized the 2024 campus anti-Israel encampment and several other demonstrations against the war in Gaza, some of which turned violent. At the time, Khamenei praised such protests, telling students they were “on the right side of history.”

CUAD’s Instagram page was disabled last year for promoting violence.