Student Writes ‘Not Interested in Working for a Jew’ on Handshake, Cornell Reports Bias Incident
Editor’s Note: This article contains references to antisemitic language.
The University reported Austin Franco ’28 to the Office of Civil Rights for a bias incident in which he responded to a job offer with “Not interested in working for a jew. Thanks.” on Handshake, according to a June 8 X post from Gabe Einhorn, co-founder and CEO of the company which Franco was accepted to. The Sun spoke to Franco and Einhorn following the incident.
Franco initially applied to a growth/sales role at Einhorn’s real estate startup, VrfyID, on May 26 through Handshake, a digital hiring platform, according to Einhorn. He was accepted in the first round and Gabe’s brother Aiden, who co-founded VrfyID, asked to set up a time for a meeting on May 29. Franco responded the same day with times he was available. Gabe told The Sun that both him and Aiden then offered two dates for students to attend, neither of which Franco went to. When Aiden followed up on June 8 to ask Franco about his attendance, Franco responded with “Not interested in working for a jew. Thanks.”
After Aiden Einhorn messaged Austin Franco ’28 on Handshake, Franco responded with “Not interested in working for a jew. Thanks.” (Courtesy of Gabe Einhorn)
Gabe, who describes himself as a “proud Jew” who always wears a kippah, and Aiden were both “taken aback” when they initially read the message and did not know how to react, Gabe told The Sun.
Franco found out Gabe and Aiden were Jewish based on their “first and last name, LinkedIn, and physiognomy,” according to a statement Franco wrote to The Sun.
Physiognomy is an 18th and 19th century practice of studying facial features to determine character and temperament. The practice is now regarded as pseudoscience.
Gabe’s post was shared on X on June 8 and amassed over two million views in less than a week. In the post, he attached a screenshot of his exchange with Franco and described the hiring process, ending his caption with “Sad world.”
Gabe had previously posted about facing antisemitism while attempting to film street interview content and faced many comments denying that antisemitism existed, he told The Sun.
Gabe posted the screenshot with Franco’s name crossed out, hoping to “prove a point to people that antisemitism exists” without causing personal damage to Franco, he said.
“He’s just a student, he might not know any better — it could be people in his environment, or on social media he saw something about Jewish people and he is just following the wave,” Gabe said.
However, comments on the post revealed Franco’s crossed out last name through a photo editing software, leading to his identity being revealed to the public.
Franco learned about the X post on Monday morning and wrote that he began facing doxxing and intimidation, which included “digging up personal information, harassing via email and phone employers, and receiving threats,” according to a statement from Franco to The Sun.
“The whole debacle caused undue stress for my family, and they were assumed guilty by association. I was unperturbed by the events and hope to come out of this experience with a better idea on life,” Franco wrote in a follow-up statement to The Sun.
On the morning of June 9, Franco took to X to respond to Gabe’s post and the responses, criticizing Gabe and the response from “[Gabe’s] community.”
“My experiences with Jews have not been pleasant … this is not to say I havent had positive experiences, but on the aggregate that is not the case,” Franco wrote on X. “Given that I have been doxed and intim[id]ated by your community including having my personal life investigated for no other reason than a single comment I cant imagine any reasonable person not coming to a similar conclusion.”
In an interview with The Sun, Gabe criticized Franco’s response.
“I don’t think his response did him any justice. I think the best response that he could have done was just apologize and say it was a mistake and he didn’t mean it directly,” Gabe told The Sun.
When The Sun asked if an investigation was being conducted by the University, a University spokesperson wrote that “Cornell University learned of a deeply disturbing comment by a student on the Handshake platform in violation of the online job board’s terms of service and Cornell Career Services’ terms and conditions for job seekers. The student’s action has been reported to the Cornell Office of Civil Rights as a bias incident.”
Franco declined to comment when asked if Cornell was investigating him.
On March 10, the Anti-Defamation League gave Cornell a “C” grade in its third annual Campus Antisemitism Report Card. The ADL classifies a “C” grade as “corrections needed.
Handshake also messaged Aiden, stating that it reached out to both the student and the school directly and claiming Franco’s conduct was in violation of its Terms of Service.
“Handshake takes any report of harassment or hate speech seriously. Whenever content is flagged as potentially violative, we promptly investigate and take appropriate action in accordance with our policies. For privacy reasons, we don’t comment publicly on individual users or the outcomes of specific investigations,” a spokesperson from Handshake wrote to The Sun.
Gabe does not plan to pursue further action and did not reach out to Cornell or Handshake.
“[With] all these comments [that are] antisemitic, I think the best thing is just to not let it get to you and not respond to it,” Gabe said.
He also hopes that Franco will learn from the experience.
“At the end of the day, I hope he realizes that he shouldn’t have generalized like that. … You never know who you might work with, or work for, or be friends with that comes from a different background or different religion,” Gabe told The Sun. “I really don’t wish that he ends up not finding a job from it. I just hope he learns from it, and people can realize he changed and accept it.”
When asked about his reactions to the exchange, Franco wrote to The Sun, “If I ever have children, this will make for an interesting bedtime story. I probably also gave Gabe Einhorn the best PR his company will have in the near future and wish him the best with his startup.”
In his follow-up statement, Franco reflected more on his experience.
“It seems part of youth is to do crazy or drastic things, and though I imagine this is different from the path most take it fulfills the requirement, nonetheless,” Franco wrote. “Such actions might not be the brightest ideas in hindsight; however, they are still important to developing character and integrity. And hopefully the prior experience coupled with the many more I will have throughout my life serve to be fulfilling and reflective.”
The University spokesperson ended their statement to The Sun emphasizing the University’s disapproval of antisemitism and hate speech.
“Cornell condemns antisemitism and all forms of hatred and discrimination in the strongest possible terms. The university is steadfastly committed to fostering a safe, inclusive, and respectful environment for every member of our community,” a spokesperson wrote to The Sun.
Everett Chambala is an assistant news editor for the 144th board. He is working as the primary summer reporter for The Cornell Daily Sun through The Sun’s summer fellowship program.
Everett Chambala
Everett Chambala is a member of the Class of 2027 in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He is a staff writer for the News department and can be reached at [email protected].
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