{"id":141673,"date":"2026-02-22T11:19:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T11:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/141673\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T11:19:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T11:19:07","slug":"nutty-professor-shellyne-rodriguez-who-held-machete-to-post-reporters-neck-tapped-by-nyc-agency-for-407000-art-installation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/141673\/","title":{"rendered":"Nutty professor Shellyne Rodriguez who held machete to Post reporter’s neck tapped by NYC agency for $407,000 art installation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The unhinged ex-CUNY professor who savagely held a machete to the neck of a New York Post reporter<\/a> now has a permanent, taxpayer-funded art installation in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs ignored Shellyne Rodriguez\u2019s infamous past by green-lighting a $407,000 budget for her 23-foot-tall brick, steel and terracotta Marxist monstrosity called \u201cPhoenix Ladder: Monument to the People of the Bronx.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was unveiled in November\u00a0along Grand Concourse and Morris Avenue \u2014 a little more than two years after she copped a wrist-slap plea deal with Bronx prosecutors <\/a>for her assault on veteran New York Post scribe Reuven Fenton.<\/p>\n

Shellyne Rodriguez, the unhinged ex-CUNY professor who savagely held a machete to Post reporter\u2019s neck in May 2023, was tapped by the city to create a permanent art installation in The Bronx. Paul Martinka<\/p>\n

The permanent work, commissioned by the city through the Percent for Art program, is sandwiched in a thicket of residential buildings and hailed as a testament to the borough\u2019s resiliency after the arson spree during the tumultuous 1970s. <\/p>\n

The monument\u2013 which already has cracks along its foundation \u2014 is adorned with images of the phoenix, a mythological symbol of rebirth; a series of piercing eyes; four clenched fists signifying black power\/socialist solidarity, and the home borough letters \u201cB\u201d and \u201cX.\u201d On top of the structure is an ascending black ladder without an end. <\/p>\n

The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs ignored Rodriguez\u2019s notorious past by green-lighting a $407,000 taxpayer-funded budget for her 23-foot-tall brick, steel and terracotta Marxist monstrosity called \u201cPhoenix Ladder: Monument to the People of the Bronx.\u201d .<\/p>\n

\u201cIf abolition is not solely about what we dismantle, but also about what we build in its stead, then what monuments or points of gathering will we, the collective body of the dispossessed who make life on the periphery\u00a0of empire, make for ourselves as stewards of our own histories and futures,\u201d she told Hyperallergic in November.<\/a><\/p>\n

The installation was first commissioned in 2018 through the city\u2019s Percent for Arts <\/a>program, which sets aside 1% of budgets for city-funded construction projects to create new artwork, as part of a now-completed $62.5 million reconstruction of the Grand Concourse.<\/p>\n

A panel of local elected officials, art experts and community board members chose Rodriguez, who pocketed $81,400, as 20% of the budget for each piece of art created through the Koch administration-era program is set aside to pay an \u201cartist fee,\u201d city officials said.<\/p>\n

Bronx residents bashed the piece as a polarizing eyesore. <\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody who\u2019s violent; there\u2019s better people who should\u2019ve been given the opportunity,\u201d said Frankie Santiago. \u201cIt looks like a piece of junk.\u201d<\/p>\n

The installation pays homage to the Bronx and is adorned with images of the mythical \u201cphoenix\u201d firebird, a series of piercing eyes and four black power\/solidarity fists surrounded by flames. .<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she\u2019s offensive like that \u2014 and they\u2019re using taxpayer money and getting privileges \u2014 maybe we should rethink this,\u201d said Jose Lopez.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks kind of weird,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

The self-proclaimed \u201cblack Marxist\u201d <\/a>told Hyperallergic in November she conceptualized the piece seven years earlier during a time\u00a0\u201cwhen the memorialization of the violent foundations of the United States was collectively being called into\u00a0question.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May 2023, it was Rodriguez, 48, who showed her own violent foundation when Fenton knocked on her Bronx apartment seeking comment a day after the then-Hunter College adjunct art professor\u00a0made headlines for flipping out on pro-life students<\/a> at the Manhattan-based CUNY campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet the f\u2013k away from my door, or I\u2019m gonna chop you up with this machete!\u201d she shouted from behind her closed door just moments after Fenton identified himself.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez in 2023 held a machete to reporter Rueven Fenton\u2019s neck and threated to \u201cchop\u201d him into pieces. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

Seconds later, Rodriguez barged out and put the blade to the reporter\u2019s neck.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet the f\u2013k away from my door! Get the f\u2013k away from my door!\u201d she raged, before later kicking Fenton in the shins and chasing a Post photographer to his car after they left the apartment.<\/p>\n

Her caught-on-camera meltdown made Page 1 of The Post with the headline \u201cTHE NUTTY PROFESSOR.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez pleaded guilty in October 2023 to a count of menacing, a misdemeanor, and to a harassment violation.<\/p>\n

The installation already has foundation cracks four months after it was unveiled. J.C. Rice for NY Post<\/p>\n

She was immediately fired from her gig at Hunter after the attack, but dodged jail time and a criminal record through a sweetheart deal brokered by Bronx prosecutors and approved by Democratic Judge Dan Quart \u2014 by completing counseling and staying out of trouble for a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In February 2024, she was axed from another\u00a0teaching gig at Cooper Union for anti-Israel screeds. Her website doesn\u2019t highlight any current projects.<\/a><\/p>\n

The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs refused to comment about Rodriguez\u2019s outrageous, headline-making past.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez made the front page of the New York Post in May 2024 for attacking Fenton.<\/p>\n

The agency also ignored questions about whether it considered pulling the award before construction began after a smirking Rodriguez was arrested in May 2023 and slapped with harassment and menacing charges for threatening to \u201cchop\u201d Fenton up.<\/p>\n

Instead, the agency said that criminal background checks aren\u2019t part of the Percent for Arts\u2019 commissioning process, but it follows city procurement rules to select \u201cresponsible\u201d contractors. <\/p>\n

The agency brushed off concerns about the cracks and fissures already marking the monument\u2019s foundation. <\/p>\n

\u201cPublic\u00a0artwork is routinely inspected and weather-related wear and tear is common, especially after a harsh winter. Any necessary maintenance is typically done once the winter season has passed,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez declined comment Saturday when approached from a distance outside her Bronx home.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Jennifer Bain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The unhinged ex-CUNY professor who savagely held a machete to the neck of a New York Post reporter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[1149,357,18716,128,302,59695,59696,57,9,24,63,5269,129,131,130,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-141673","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-art","9":"tag-assaults","10":"tag-blade","11":"tag-bronx","12":"tag-city-hall","13":"tag-hunter-college","14":"tag-marxism","15":"tag-metro","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-prosecutors","20":"tag-the-bronx","21":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","22":"tag-the-bronx-news","23":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}