A professor at a New York City art college has been fired after she aggressively challenged pro-life students on campus, and then pulled a machete on a reporter who asked her about the incident.
Shellyne Rodriguez, 46, was an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts and Hunter College.
Earlier in May she angrily confronted students manning a pro-life stand inside the college.
When asked about it at her home in the Bronx, she drew a machete and held it to the throat of the reporter at her door, threatening to ‘chop’ him up. When the reporter and photographer from The New York Post left, she followed them out the front door, machete still in hand.
‘Hunter College strongly condemns the unacceptable actions of Shellyne Rodriguez and has taken immediate action,’ said Vince Dimiceli, a spokesman for the school.
He told The Post: ‘Rodriguez has been relieved of her duties at Hunter College effective immediately, and will not be returning to teach at the school.’
Shellyne Rodriguez, 46, has been fired from her job as an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts and Hunter College in New York City after aggressively confronting pro-life students on campus, and then attacking a reporter with a machete
It also emerged on Tuesday that Rodriguez is suing the NYPD after she was arrested in 2020, during the George Floyd protests.
Rodriguez claims in her lawsuit that police officers pulled her hair, shoved her face into a gate and repeatedly punched her in the stomach.
She was arrested in the Bronx and put in a police van with 14 others.
She had her hands restrained with zip ties, which she alleges were so tightly-bound for two hours they caused her lasting nerve damage, impacting her ability to create art.
Charges against her were dropped in September 2020: she is due in court in July for the next hearing in her suit.
Rodriguez’s recent drama began when a pro-life group posted a video showing her stopping at what was promoted as an educational display at Hunter College.
‘You’re not educating s***,’ Rodriguez said to one of the students.
‘This is f***ing propaganda. What are you going to do, like, anti-trans next?
‘This is bulls***. This is violent. You’re triggering my students.’
Rodriguez drew the ire of social media after a video showed her hurling obscenities at pro-life students over a display at their school that she eventually messed up
A campus pro-abortion group called on students to defend Rodriguez’s attack on pro-life students
While conservatives and pro-lifers have been enraged, a group called CUNY for Abortion Rights is defending Rodriguez
One of the male students attempts to speak with Rodriguez before she interrupts him, saying: ‘You can’t even have a f***ing baby.’
Rodriguez then starts to shove their pamphlets off the display table and demands they ‘get this s*** the f*** out of here.’
She offers one more ‘f*** this s***’ before walking away, as the two students attempt to put their pamphlets back in place.
While conservatives and pro-lifers have been enraged, a group called CUNY for Abortion Rights defended Rodriguez.
Despite her angry and foul-mouthed abuse, the group insists Rodriguez ‘constructively critiqued’ the anti-abortion display.
Its members, who haven’t been identified, added: ‘Her actions to shut down the tabling were fully justified.
They added: ‘We stand with Shellyne Rodriguez and stand against the right wing anti abortion backlash she is experiencing!’
In several panels, they detailed what was happening in the wake of Rodriguez’s tirade.
‘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.’
Her firing was not confirmed until Tuesday, following the attack on the reporter.
