Cornell Student Says Parents Kicked Him Out After Antisemitic Job Rejection

A Cornell University student who gained national attention after saying he was “not interested in working for a Jew” said his parents ordered him to leave their Virginia home, prompting him to seek financial support online.

Austin Franco, 19, said he planned to move into an apartment near Cornell’s campus in Ithaca. Two fundraising campaigns connected to him have reportedly raised more than $30,000, while the university confirmed that he remains enrolled and may return to campus.

The controversy began after Franco applied through Cornell’s Handshake employment platform for a position at VrfyID, a New York startup founded by Jewish brothers Gabe and Aiden Einhorn.

After Franco missed proposed interview times, Aiden Einhorn contacted him again. Franco replied: “Not interested in working for a Jew. Thanks.”

The founders initially concealed Franco’s surname when sharing the exchange publicly. His identity was later revealed by other internet users, although a fundraising campaign established on his behalf described the episode as “Jewish doxxing.”

The first campaign, launched by a supporter, reportedly raised approximately $25,000. Franco later created a second fundraiser after announcing that his parents would no longer provide him with a home.

“I do not regret anything I have done,” Franco wrote in the appeal. “If I were to die today, I would at least know that I did so believing in myself.”

His parents, Alexander and Diana Franco, publicly rejected their son’s statements and said they believed he had been influenced by extremist material online.

“The rest of our family finds the views he has expressed morally repugnant, and he did not derive them in any way from us,” they said.

The parents added that they loved their son and were attempting to counter what they described as harmful online influences. Franco rejected that explanation, saying his views also came from experiences in his personal life.

Franco continued defending his position during a contentious interview on “Piers Morgan Uncensored.” He claimed Jews had made his life “a living hell” and argued that refusing to work for Jewish employers did not necessarily mean he disliked Jewish people.

Morgan called Franco “arrogant” and told him that his conduct had likely made him unemployable.

Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff condemned Franco’s statements but said the university was obligated to protect lawful expression, including speech it considered offensive.

“As a university built on the solid foundations of our nation’s democratic freedoms, Cornell has an obligation to fiercely defend freedom of speech — even when we find that speech abhorrent,” Kotlikoff said.

Cornell previously said Franco’s original message violated Handshake’s rules and the university’s employment-service requirements. The incident was also reported to Cornell’s Office of Civil Rights as a bias complaint, although the university has not publicly detailed the final outcome of any internal review.

Franco said he was not concerned about returning to campus. He argued that other students were free to avoid him, just as he claimed the right to choose whom he would work for.

Cornell is expected to allow him to return despite condemning his remarks, leaving the dispute centered on the boundary between protected speech and the personal consequences of publicly expressed antisemitism.