A former art professor at Hunter College in New York City turned herself in to police on Thursday after she appeared to brandish a machete at a pair of New York Post reporters on Tuesday.
Fired From College Job
Rodriguez had been an adjunct assistant professor in Hunter College’s Art & Art History Department. Her departure from the university came after an altercation with students earlier this month and her armed encounter with the New York Post news crew.“You’re not educating [expletive]. This is [expletive] propaganda,” Rodriguez said to the students. “What are you going to do, like, anti-trans next? Is that what you’re going to do next?”
“I mean, no. We’re talking about abortion,” a male student at the booth replied.
“This is [expletive]. This is violent. You’re triggering my students,” she continued.
As the confrontation escalated, Rodriguez uttered more profanities as she vandalized the booth by flipping over and pushing materials off a table the students were using.
Hunter College reprimanded Rodriguez after the initial incident.
The New York Post news crew tracked Rodriguez down after her initial altercation with the pro-life students. This visit led to Rodriguez’s armed confrontation with the reporters.
Hunter College again disavowed Rodriguez’s actions, this time cutting her position at the school.
Incidents Have ‘Taken a Toll on My Mental Health’: Rodriguez
NTD News attempted to contact Rodriguez through attorneys who have represented her in a recent lawsuit (pdf) against the NYPD. Those attorneys did not respond by the time this article was published.Rodriguez did reach out to ARTnews on Wednesday to share her side of the story after her alterations with pro-life students. She said the May 2 incident with the students involved the “use of profanity” and the “tossing [of] the postcards and the metal container of rubber fetuses” the students had at their booth.
Rodriguez did not directly address her armed encounter with the New York Post reporters but her spokesperson told ARTnews that Fenton and the cameraperson did not identify themselves, didn’t use the building’s intercom system to get in, and “appear to have been trespassing inside the building when they pounded on her door and started yelling at her through the door.”
NYPD Lawsuit
In addition to her work in the arts and academia, Rodriguez is a self-described “black Marxist,” a “community organizer,” and “an active member of radical grassroots collective Take Back the Bronx.”Rodriguez was also involved in protests against police after George Floyd, a black man, died while being arrested by Minneapolis police on May 25, 2020. Rodriguez is currently suing the NYPD in federal court, alleging police brutality at an “FTP4” protest event in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx on June 4.
Rodriguez was arrested at the protest event and charged with violating a curfew. The curfew charges were dropped on Sept. 4, 2020.
The lawsuit identified Rodriguez as an artist who teaches at Hunter College. The complaint alleges that NYPD officers shoved her into a fence, pulled her hair, squeezed the back of her neck, flipped her around such that her back was against the gate, and then repeatedly punched her in the stomach. Her complaint states that officers also applied zip tie-style flex cuffs that were too tight, causing her nerve damage.
“The injuries to Ms. Rodriguez’s wrists continue to cause her pain, and to interfere with her ability to make art,” the lawsuit states.