Beyond My Ken via Wikimedia Commons
Hunter College professor Shellyne Rodriguez was fired from her job after threatening a New York Post reporter with a machete when he knocked on her door to ask about a hostile incident at a pro-life table on campus earlier this month.
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The original incident occurred on May 2 when Rodriguez confronted and cursed at the young man behind the table before knocking some of his group’s pamphlets off of their display. The scene was recorded by someone from the group – Students for Life of America – who shared it on Twitter.
PROFESSOR GONE WILD: Pro-abortion professor Shellyne Rodriquez curses at pro-life students and vandalizes table at Hunter College. pic.twitter.com/QNspuXB4KK
— Students for Life of America (@StudentsforLife) May 17, 2023
The video quickly went viral and multiple outlets picked up the story.
On Tuesday, when New York Post reporter Reuven Fenton knocked on Rodriguez’s Bronx apartment door in an attempt to ask about the incident, she threatened him with a machete, held it to his neck and chased him down the street until he got into his car. She then kicked him in the shins.
Hunter College fired Rodriguez several hours after the Post’s article came out.
“Hunter College strongly condemns the unacceptable actions of Shellyne Rodriguez, and has taken immediate action,” a school spokesperson said in a statement. “Rodriguez has been relieved of her duties at Hunter College effective immediately, and will not be returning to teach at the school.”
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Rodriguez responded to the firing with a statement that said the school had “capitulated” to “racists, white nationalists, and misogynists.”
On Thursday morning, the former professor turned herself in to police and was arrested on harassment and menacing charges. A Post photographer captured Rodriguez being escorted out of the 43rd Precinct in the Bronx while zooming in on some of her tattoos – including the letters F-T-P (F*ck the Police) on her knuckles.
Shellyne is an artist and speaker. Collections of her work have been featured at the Bronx Museum of Art, the Museum of the City of New York, and the New-York Historical Society, according to her personal website – which also adds that she’s an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts. Here employment there is apparently under review.
