Shellyne Rodriguez, the fired Hunter College adjunct professor who held a machete to a New York Post reporter’s neck, was released by a Bronx judge Thursday night during a well-attended court hearing. About a half-dozen supporters were at a brief hearing and one of them clapped after a judge released Rodriguez on her own recognizance. She then left the courthouse and went to Burger King.
Earlier Thursday, Rodiguez turned herself in to the 43rd Precinct.
She made her first court appearance in Bronx Criminal Court, where she was arraigned on charges of menacing and harassment over the confrontation that took place inside her Bronx apartment building earlier in the week. It began on Tuesday morning when a reporter and a photographer from the New York Post knocked on her door to ask about her profane rant against a group of pro-life students handing out their literature at Hunter College.
“Get the f–k away from my door, or I’m gonna chop you up with this machete,” the professor screamed before bolting out with the blade and holding it against the reporter’s throat.
The two Post staffers immediately fled, but Rodriguez followed them outside with the machete. Dashcam video shows her chasing them down the street and continuing to threaten them.
She was fired by Hunter College in the wake of the incident. The School of Visual Arts—where she also worked as a professor— was reviewing her employment as of Wednesday.
