The professor at a New York City art school who hurled abuses at pro-life students on campus and later allegedly pulled a machete at a reporter has been fired from her job. Shellyne Rodriguez, 46, was fired after threatening a New York Post reporter and a photographer with a machete.
The journalists were trying to speak to Rodriguez about the incident in early May wherein she was caught on camera criticizing pro-life students over a display at their school, which she later tore down. Rodriguez chased the New York Post journalists onto the street with the machete, according to a new video. Rodriguez was an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts and Hunter College.
Naughty Professor
Hunter College, part of the City University of New York, confirmed that Rodriguez had been "relieved of her duties" following her attempted attack on the two journalists.
The NYPD is investigating the case of the disturbed New York City art professor who held a machete to a NY Post reporter's throat after he knocked on her house early on Tuesday, the New York Post reported.
According to law enforcement sources, Rodriguez could possibly be charged with assault and other offenses as a result of the terrifying incident, which started inside her Bronx apartment building before she chased the two Post employees down the street.
New York Post veteran Reuven Fenton and a photographer visited Rodriguez to inquire about a viral video from earlier this month in which Rodriguez flipped out on pro-life students in an expletive-filled rant at Hunter College, where she was employed as an adjunct.
When asked about the incident, she pulled out a machete and held it to the throat of the reporter at her door, threatening to 'chop' him up.
When the reporter and photographer left, she followed she followed them out the front door, machete still in hand.
"If I see you on this block one more f–king time, you're gonna ...!" Rodriguez yelled at them, the outlet reported.
"Get the f–k off the block! Get the f–k out of here, yo!" she screamed.
She also kicked the reporter in the shins as he tried to get in his car.
Punished Immediately
Hours after the horrifying incident, Rodriguez was fired from Hunter College, the Manhattan institution confirmed. "Rodriguez has been relieved of her duties at Hunter College effective immediately and will not be returning to teach at the school," school spokesman Vince Dimiceli told The Post.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that Rodriguez is initiating legal action against the NYPD following her arrest during the George Floyd protests in 2020. According to her lawsuit, Rodriguez asserts that during the incident, police officers forcefully grabbed her hair, pushed her face against a gate, and repeatedly punched her in the stomach.
Her arrest took place in the Bronx, where she was placed in a police van along with 14 others.
During her detention, her hands were restrained with zip ties. Rodriguez claims that these restraints were tightly bound for a duration of two hours, causing lasting nerve damage that has affected her artistic abilities.
In September 2020, the charges against her were dropped. However, she is scheduled to appear in court in July for the next hearing related to her lawsuit.
Rodriguez's recent drama began when a pro-life organization shared a video showing her stopping at a display that was advertised as an educational exhibit at Hunter College.
The video posted online shows the interaction Rodriguez losing her cool at a group of students who put up an information station against abortion inside the school building, cursing and throwing their leaflets. The footage was posted to Twitter by Students for Life of America.
Rodriguez describes herself as both an artist and an activist in her bio and claims that her work utilizes, "utilizes text, drawing, painting, collage and sculpture to depict spaces and subjects engaged in strategies of survival against erasure and subjugation."
"You're not educating s–t. This is f–king propaganda," Rodrigues can be heard telling the students tabling on May 2 in the video posted on twitter. "What are you going to do like anti-trans next?"
A male student behind the table can then be heard calmly telling her, "I mean no, we're talking about abortion," and he apologized for "trigger[ing]" her students.
According to the video, Rodriguez called their demonstration "violent" and yelled at the male student seated behind the table, "You can't even have an f-king baby," saying he wasn't sorry.
She then tossed the anti-abortion papers off the table toward the students while yelling "f-k this s-t" and left the room, according to the video footage.
It is still unclear what happened before the interaction before the video begins. Rodriguez's actions were legitimate, according to the PSC Graduate Center, a labor union group that represents CUNY professors and graduate assistants, which claimed it stands by Rodriguez "against right-wing anti-abortion backlash".
The group believes Rodriguez "constructively challenged" the anti-abortion display despite her irate and profane remarks.
Members of the group who have not been named said: "Her actions to stop the tabling were fully justified."
They added: "We stand with Shellyne Rodriguez and stand against the right-wing anti-abortion backlash she is experiencing!"
They described what had happened following Rodriguez's tirade in a number of panels. "On May 12, Shellyne was summoned to the Hunter Provost's office, where she was questioned by the provost and the dean, diversity and campus relations."
