The influential Mothers Against College Antisemitism Facebook group and associated nonprofit appear to have resolved the weekslong dispute between its founder and board, resulting in the appointment of a new board president and an end to the two sides’ hostilities, according to a Facebook post on the group’s page late Wednesday night by its founder, Elizabeth Rand.

“You probably know that there have been some issues between myself and the Board of The MACA Foundation,” Rand wrote. She then stated that the board members have been allowed back into the MACA Facebook group after being banned by her after the dispute began and announced that Miriam Zivin would serve as the next board president. 

“We are committed to continuing respectful communications as we work towards our shared goals,” Rand wrote.

Speaking to eJewishPhilanthropy last week, Rand stated that for the conflict to end, she wanted veto power over new board members and the ability to sit in on board meetings, even though she wouldn’t serve on the board, as well as an apology from the board for allowing her to be “abused” by a previous board member. In exchange, she would allow the board to manage the Facebook group. It is unknown if these demands were met. Rand and the board declined to comment on the matter.

Last Friday, the board sent Rand a cease-and-desist letter accusing Rand of “misuse of assets, funds, time, relationships, intellectual property, abuse of the public trust and damage to the reputations of MACA, the board, individual board members and other MACA volunteers and members.” Rand, who had been promoting a new 501(c)4 political lobbying organization, “Anti-Zionism is Antisemitism” in the MACA Facebook group, was also told in the cease-and-desist letter that she must halt promotion of the organization in MACA group. But posts promoting the group remained up after Wednesday night’s announcement, as did posts criticizing a former board president. The letter also told Rand she had to repay MACA $10,000 for “wasting of assets and fraudulent misrepresentation” and that she could no longer claim ownership of the group. The status of this repayment is also unknown.

Founders “have no ownership over the assets or power over the organization once they leave — or are removed from — the board of directors,” Laura Solomon, founder and owner of Laura Solomon & Associates, told eJP last week. Control of the MACA Facebook group is somewhat less clear, however. The MACA Foundation board maintains that it controls the 60,000-person-plus group, while Rand insists that she is its sole owner, having created it before the foundation was launched and deliberately leaving it out of the nonprofit’s legal documentation. “That page will die with me,” Rand told eJP last week.

Zivin had been serving as interim president after the past president stepped down due to a dispute with Rand. “I’m a big fan of Miriam’s,” Rand wrote in her post, “and to me, she embodies everything MACA should be. Strong, resilient, intelligent and kind.” The rest of the board has not been named publicly. 

In her Facebook post, Rand also announced that on Jan. 16, the Facebook group’s name will revert to “Mothers Against College Antisemitism” after having been changed to “Parents Against Campus Antisemitism” by Rand last month as a way to ensure her ownership over the page.

Meanwhile, a new Facebook page was created by the MACA Foundation on Wednesday that makes no mention of the Facebook group. “Mothers Against College Antisemitism, or ‘MACA’, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that operates on a grassroots level, focusing on supporting families, students, and schools in their efforts to prevent and combat antisemitism on college campuses,” the page’s introductory post said. “Programming priorities include speaker & educational events, discussion groups, rallies, advocacy, and resource distribution, in addition to strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations to counter antisemitism nationally.”

The MACA Foundation website has not been updated since Sunday’s announcement that Rand had left the organization.

Responding to Rand’s post, commenters in the MACA Facebook group congratulated her and the board on the rapprochement, though some questioned the quick turnaround. “I am all for licking our wounds and moving forward for the good of the whole,” one poster wrote. “However, I have to say that the 180 is leaving me scratching my head. Are these disagreements really put behind or are they squashed just until…”

Another person questioned how a board president could have only joined the group a day prior, to which Rand informed the poster that it was because Zivin had been banned, along with all of the other board members.

Since the dispute became public, current and former members of the Facebook group and of the MACA Foundation board have described the internal feud as distressing and counterproductive.

“The majority of people there were concerned parents, Jews, citizens, and we’re there for information and to share our trauma and not feel alone,” Anne Isacowitz Scarvie, who has been a MACA group member since nearly the beginning, told eJP. The dispute between Rand and the board has been “tragic,” she said, comparing it to a car accident people couldn’t turn away from. She also noted that, as its administrator, Rand only allowed her side of the argument to be shared in the group.

Rand “did something super important,” Frieda Fuchs, another longtime MACA member, told eJP. “And she’s obviously very well connected. She fundraised. She has a lot of pull in the New York community. She brought in a lot of members, but the board as well, they’ve been working tirelessly at her side… I just don’t think it’s good to air your dirty laundry.”