Unhinged NYC Art Professor in Custody After Brandishing Machete at Reporter, Threatening to “Chop You Up”

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Shellyne Rodriguez, who was an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Hunter College, has been charged with menacing and harassment after turning herself into authorities in connection with an incident where she threatened a New York Post reporter who had knocked on the door of her apartment. 
Shellyne Rodriguez has been charged with menacing and harassment after turning herself into authorities in connection with an incident where she threatened a New York Post reporter who had knocked on the door of her apartment. Image credit: New York Post / YouTube.

NEW YORK, NY – A college art professor – who was already under public scrutiny for harassing students at her school – is now out of a job and in police custody after brandishing a machete against a reporter’s neck while threatening to “chop you up.” 

Shellyne Rodriguez, who was an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Hunter College, has been charged with menacing and harassment after turning herself into authorities in connection with an incident where she threatened a New York Post reporter who had knocked on the door of her apartment. 

Rodriguez had previously gained a degree of infamy after a video went viral of her confronting pro-life students at her school; in the video she can be seen approaching a table that the students had set up and then screaming at them that they were “triggering” her students with anti-abortion literature they were displaying. 

In the video, the students can be seen remaining calm and respectful, despite Rodriguez’s aggressive behavior; the professor then screams “This is propaganda. What are you going to do, like anti-trans next?” before vandalizing the table and storming off. 

Following this incident, a New York Post reporter and photographer went to Rodriguez’s Bronx apartment building on Tuesday; while captured on video, she can be seen emerging from her apartment brandishing a machete which she holds up to the reporter’s neck while saying “get the “fu*k away from my door.” 

After walking back into her apartment and shutting the door, the post noted that Rodriguez then yelled that she was going to “chop you up with this machete!” 

The reporter and photographer then left, but Rodriguez proceeded to exit her apartment again and followed them; once on the street, she kicked the reporter in his shins than then chased the photographer while still wielding the deadly weapon. 

While her harassment of the students at her school was apparently not enough for her to lose her job, this latest incident was; Rodriguez was subsequently fired by Hunter College. 

“Hunter College strongly condemns the unacceptable actions of Shellyne Rodriguez, and has taken immediate action,” spokesperson Vince DiMiceli said. “Rodriguez has been relieved of her duties at Hunter College effective immediately, and will not be returning to teach at the school.” 

After being terminated from her job, Rodriguez was then arrested Thursday morning; despite the evidence against her, she has maintained that she is the true victim, telling a media outlet that, by firing her, Hunter had “capitulated” to “racists, white nationalists, and misogynists.” 

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