Student Writes ‘Not Interested in Working for a Jew’ on Handshake, Cornell Reports Bias Incident - The Cornell Daily Sun
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Austin Franco '28 responded to a job offer on Handshake with "Not interested in working for a jew. Thanks" on June 8. (Headshot courtesy of Austin Franco; screenshot courtesy of Gabe Einhorn)
Student Writes ‘Not Interested in Working for a Jew’ on Handshake, Cornell Reports Bias Incident
By<br>Everett Chambala
Jun 13, 2026 10:30 pm<br>· Updated Jun 13, 2026 10:33 pm
Reading time: about 7 minutes
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...