A New York art college professor has been fired after she aggressively challenged pro-life students on campus and then pulled a machete at a reporter who questioned 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 holding a pro-life booth inside the college.
Asked about it at her home in the Bronx, she pulled out a machete and pointed it at the reporter’s throat at her doorstep, threatening to “cut” him into pieces. When the journalist and photographer of The New York Post on the left, she followed them to 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 school spokesperson.
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, was fired from her position as an assistant professor at the School of Visual Arts and Hunter College in New York after she aggressively confronted pro-life students on campus and then attacked a reporter with a machete.
It also emerged on Tuesday that Rodriguez is suing the NYPD after his arrest in 2020, during the George Floyd protests.
Rodriguez claims in her lawsuit that officers pulled her hair, pushed her face against a door and punched her repeatedly in the stomach.
She was arrested in the Bronx and put in a police van with 14 other people.
Her hands were bound with zip ties, which she says were bound so tightly for two hours that they caused lasting nerve damage, affecting her ability to create art.
The charges against her were dropped in September 2020: she is due to appear in July for the next hearing in her trial.
Rodriguez’s recent drama began when a pro-life group released a video showing her stopping by what was being promoted as an educational exhibit at Hunter College.
“You don’t educate s***,” Rodriguez told one of the students.
“This is fucking propaganda. What are you going to do, like, anti-trans next?
‘Those are *** bulls. It’s violent. You trigger my students.
Rodriguez drew social media ire after a video showed her hurling obscenities at pro-life students over an exhibit at their school which she ultimately missed
A campus pro-abortion group called on students to defend Rodriguez’s attack on pro-life students
While conservatives and pro-lifers are enraged, a group called CUNY for abortion rights defends Rodriguez
One of the male students attempts to speak with Rodriguez before she interrupts him, saying, “You can’t even have a fucking baby.”
Rodriguez then begins to pull their brochures off the display table and asks them to “get this shit out of here”.
She offers another “f*** that s***” before walking away, as the two students try to put their brochures back together.
While conservatives and pro-lifers are furious, a group called CUNY for Abortion Rights defended Rodriguez.
Despite his angry and crude abuse, the group insists that Rodriguez has “constructively criticized” the anti-abortion poster.
Its members, who have not been identified, added: “His actions to stop the filing 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 happened as a result of Rodriguez’s tirade.
“On May 12, Shellyne was called into the office of the Hunter Provost, where she was interviewed by the provost and the dean, diversity and campus relations.”
His dismissal was not confirmed until Tuesday, after the attack on the journalist.
