5 min read
The Ole Miss fundraiser story took a darker turn on Wednesday.
A campaign backing Lauren Mayfield, one of the women identified in the racist Ole Miss video, has raised $19,309.
The organizer has attached one condition to every dollar.
If Mayfield apologizes, he says the fundraiser gets canceled.
Major Takeaways
- The Stand with Lauren campaign on GiveSendGo has raised $19,309 toward a $20,000 goal.
- Organizer Tom Hennessey says he will cancel the campaign if Mayfield apologizes or disavows his support.
- Mayfield has not publicly apologized, and whether she approved the campaign or will receive the money remains unclear.
- Ole Miss says its investigation continues, and no disciplinary decision has been announced.
1. The Ole Miss Fundraiser Pays for Silence
The campaign lives on GiveSendGo under the title Stand with Lauren.
Organizer Tom Hennessey built it for Lauren Mayfield, one of the students named in connection with the video.
The goal started at $10,000 and has since doubled to $20,000.
By Wednesday the total stood at $19,309, less than $700 short of the new goal.
Hennessey says the money will cover lost income and lost opportunities.
His stated purpose is blunt. Mayfield, he says, should never have to fold.
Before the campaign even launched, Hennessey posted that supporters had to make sure the women "DON’T APOLOGIZE."
The campaign page calls the incident a "juvenile stunt."
It argues Mayfield assaulted nobody and broke no law.
It also warns that Hennessey reserves the right to cancel the fundraiser if she disavows his support and "bends the knee."
2. What the Camera Caught on November 6
The fundraiser exists because of a short Ring camera clip recorded on Friday night, November 6.
The clip shows three women walking past an off campus apartment in Oxford, Mississippi.
Two of them make monkey noises and gestures toward the door.
Inside that apartment live three Black freshmen. Jakirya Metcalf, Kaiyden Caldwell and Victoria Johnson.
Metcalf posted the video, and it spread across the country within days.
She later learned the women were her upstairs neighbors.
One roommate says the women claimed they were "stimming" when confronted about the noises.
The first woman identified, Alaina Kunes, has apologized and withdrawn from the university. Our earlier report traced her apology and departure.
Mayfield took a different path. She made her Instagram account private and said nothing publicly.
3. A Playbook That Has Paid Out Before
This is not the first campaign of its kind for Hennessey.
His Stand With Crystal fundraiser backed a Cinnabon worker fired after hurling racist slurs at Black customers.
That campaign raised more than $136,000.
He also built a campaign for a Texas health care worker fired over a bigoted tirade. That effort was set to pay her $100,000.
The pattern rewards the refusal itself. The less remorse shown, the more money moves.
Ole Miss has seen a version of this before.
In May 2024, the Phi Delta Theta fraternity removed a member filmed making monkey noises and gestures at a Black protester during a campus demonstration.
Supporters raised money for that student as well.
4. The Backlash Is Hitting the Wrong People Too
The anger around the video has already landed on people with no connection to it.
A 30 year old woman named Lauren, who shares only a first name with Mayfield, was flooded with threats.
She changed her social media bio to read "not the lauren from ole miss."
The Alpha Phi sorority has also pushed back after posts wrongly linked its members to the video.
The confusion came from women with similar names being misidentified online.
Meanwhile, the three freshmen at the center of this story are still students living with the fallout.
In their first public interview on Wednesday, Metcalf, Caldwell and Johnson said they intend to remain at Ole Miss.
They urged anyone facing harassment to speak out rather than stay silent.
5. Accountability Now Sits With the University
The University of Mississippi says its investigation into the November 6 incident remains open.
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Shawnboda Mead has called the conduct unacceptable and contrary to university values.
Federal student privacy protections limit what officials can say about discipline.
As of Wednesday, the university had announced no disciplinary decision.
One question hangs over the fundraiser itself. There is no public confirmation that Mayfield authorized the campaign or that she will receive its donations.
What is confirmed is the message the money sends.
A Black student can be mocked at her own front door in 2026, and the fastest financial response can be a reward for the woman who will not say she is sorry.
One student apologized and left school. The other stayed silent, and the money kept climbing.
For Black families sending daughters and sons to campuses like this one, that math is the story.
Keep following Urban City Podcast for updates as the investigation moves.
