A 19-year-old Cornell University student who told a Jewish tech founder he was "not interested in working for a Jew" has collected more than $11,000 through an online fundraiser organized by supporters who accused Jewish people of trying to destroy his career. The episode is a sharp reminder that antisemitism on elite campuses has moved from protest chants into the mundane machinery of professional life, and that a troubling number of people are willing to bankroll it.
Austin Franco sparked the controversy when he rejected an interview offer from Gabe Einhorn, the 24-year-old chief executive of VryfID, an anti-fraud platform, on the college career site Handshake. Einhorn shared a screenshot of Franco's message on X. It read: "Not interested in working for a Jew. Thanks."
What followed was a collision of outrage, crowdfunding, and institutional hand-wringing that reveals how deeply antisemitism has burrowed into corners of American campus culture, and how quickly it can find financial reward online.
The GiveSendGo campaign for Franco had pulled in more than $11,400 as of Monday afternoon, the Daily Mail reported. An X account operating under the username Lord Miles, later identified as belonging to a user named Routledge, known for controversial content, claimed credit for setting it up.
"I've created a givesendgo with 100% of proceeds going to him," the account wrote. "Jews are doxxing this man and trying to ruin his career. I cannot let that happen."
Routledge said he verified Franco's identity through phone contact and AI detection tools applied to photos of Franco holding a notepad reading "Lord Miles. 6/13/2026." He added that Franco "is very grateful for all the donations and was very stressed about his life being ruined by people who hate Christ."
The fundraiser's organizer made no effort to dress up what was happening. "I just raised $10k for antisemitism," Routledge posted. He also disclosed his own history: "As someone who got almost kicked out of university in 2021 for denying the existence of Israel, I personally empathize with this kid."
Read that again. The man running the fundraiser openly described it as raising money "for antisemitism." Not against it. For it.
Franco did not apologize. In a statement posted online, he argued that his negative experiences with Jewish people justified the remark.
"I was stating why I was not interested after you had asked to interview 3 times. I found out you were Jewish after the fact. My experiences with Jews have not been pleasant, both in person and online. This is not to say I haven't had positive experiences, but on the aggregate that is not the case. Obviously, the reactions by your community only serves to further prove my point and indicate your post on X was not done in good faith."
He went further, claiming that if Einhorn had said he "didn't want to work for someone who was white or Christian this would not have blown up to the capacity it has here today."
Franco's verified X account carried a bio reading, "Standing by my principles: honor, integrity, and loyalty." Posts from the account asked if anyone was hiring, offered his resume, said he would be "happy to go on any shows to explain my doxxing," and solicited lawyers who might take a case for "doxxing, defamation or something else."
Franco is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell. He previously attended Virginia Tech College of Science, where he studied economics and made the Dean's List twice, in fall 2024 and spring of last year. He served as president of his high school debate club and participated in Model United Nations.
An accomplished résumé. A disqualifying moral blind spot.
Einhorn initially blurred Franco's last name in the screenshot he posted. "Don't need to ruin his life," he wrote as users tried to identify the student. But Franco was eventually exposed in an updated video Einhorn posted on Instagram showing the full Handshake message alongside the student's name.
Einhorn told Fox News's Dana Perino that overgeneralizing about any religion or race "is never a good idea."
"You see people that are, across the board, from different walks of life that could become friends, that could do business together, that can build a family together. I never think it's a good idea to overgeneralize in that sense, and I think we need to come together and bring more love to the world."
Both Gabe Einhorn and his brother Aiden, who co-founded VryfID, appeared in social media videos and the Fox News interview. The company co-founder also wrote on his original post: "He probably knows nothing about Jews except for what they tell him in college and on social media. Sad world."
Cornell University issued a statement acknowledging the incident. A spokesman wrote: "Cornell University is aware of an unconfirmed report regarding a post made by a student on the Handshake platform. We take all reports of discrimination and hate speech seriously and are actively reviewing the matter."
The university said it was "committed to conducting a thorough review in accordance with university policy" and "condemns antisemitism and all forms of hatred and discrimination in the strongest possible terms."
Handshake also responded. A Trust and Safety specialist named Elle wrote to Einhorn that the company was investigating the message, which violated its Terms of Service. "Our team is reaching out to the student and their school directly to address their behavior on the platform," the message read.
The familiar institutional vocabulary, "thorough review," "safe, inclusive, and respectful environment", landed with the usual weightlessness. Cornell has been at the center of campus antisemitism controversies before. What matters now is whether the review produces consequences or just another press release.
Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams weighed in on X, cutting straight to the point that Franco's defenders want to dodge.
"He was offered a job and turned it down because he was 'not interested in working for a Jew.' Replace the word 'Jew' with any other religious or racial group, and the outrage would be immediate and universal. Antisemitism has become dangerously normalized on some of our most elite campuses and institutions. What should be condemned without hesitation is too often excused, ignored, or rationalized."
Adams added: "Hate never stops with one group. It may begin with the Jews, but history has shown that it never ends there."
Adams is right on the substitution test. Imagine a student writing "Not interested in working for a Black man" or "Not interested in working for a Muslim." The student would be off campus before the screenshot finished loading. There would be no fundraiser. There would be no accounts proudly declaring they had "raised $10k" for the cause.
Social media users largely condemned Franco. One commenter wrote: "In this tough environment where internships are so hard to come by, this student chooses antisemitism? My daughter has been applying to hundreds of internships with no luck. She would never have answered like that." Another called the rising anti-Israeli sentiment "bleeding into very scary, hateful behavior towards a religion."
But the $11,400 tells its own story. Franco didn't just find a few sympathizers in a dark corner of the internet. He found an organized effort, a verified identity process, a fundraising platform, and thousands of dollars, all within days of the incident becoming public.
The money didn't arrive despite the antisemitism. It arrived because of it. Routledge said so himself.
Franco, for his part, framed the entire backlash as proof of his original claim, a circular logic that treats any objection to bigotry as evidence that the bigotry was warranted. His statement that "the reactions by your community only serves to further prove my point" is the rhetorical trick of every prejudice: define the target group as a monolith, then cite any pushback from any member of that group as confirmation.
Franco is not a fringe figure. He is an Ivy League student in a program designed to prepare future leaders in labor and workplace relations. He made the Dean's List. He led a debate club. He is the product of institutions that spend enormous sums on diversity programming, bias training, and inclusive hiring pipelines.
And he wrote "Not interested in working for a Jew. Thanks." On a professional career platform. With his real name attached.
That confidence, the casualness of the remark, the willingness to put it in writing, the refusal to retract, suggests Franco did not expect serious consequences. Whether that expectation came from campus culture, social media echo chambers, or something else, it is worth examining.
The post-October 7th environment on American campuses has produced encampments, harassment of Jewish students, faculty who celebrate terrorism, and administrators who respond with committees. Franco's message is a downstream product of that environment: a student so comfortable with anti-Jewish animus that he treated it as a routine professional preference, like declining a job because of the commute.
Conservative readers understand that free speech protections mean the government cannot punish Franco for his words. But free speech is not freedom from accountability. Employers can decline to hire him. Universities can enforce their own conduct codes. And the rest of us can call what happened exactly what it is: open religious bigotry, rewarded with cash.
When a society pays people for prejudice, it should not be surprised when it gets more of it.
