Nutty professor who held machete to Post reporter’s neck rambles about ‘violent fascists’
A former CUNY professor who previously pleaded guilty to menacing a New York Post reporter responded publicly last week to criticism over her newly unveiled $407,000 taxpayer-funded monument in the Bronx, which some local residents have sharply criticized.
Shellyne Rodriguez, 48, published a column on Hyperallergic.com defending her work and arguing that recent media coverage reflects broader political tensions. In the piece, she characterized her critics as politically motivated and described what she views as a hostile media environment.
Rodriguez did not reference the 2023 incident in which she threatened Post reporter Reuven Fenton during a confrontation outside her Bronx apartment. She later accepted a plea deal with Bronx prosecutors in connection with that case.
Her column, titled “Why My Public Art Drives the Right Nuts,” discusses her permanent public installation, “Phoenix Ladder: Monument to the People of the Bronx.” The 23-foot-tall structure, made of brick, steel, and terracotta, was unveiled in November at Grand Concourse and Morris Avenue. The project was originally commissioned in 2018 through New York City’s Percent for Art program, which allocates 1% of the budget for eligible city-funded construction projects toward public artwork. The monument was part of a broader $62.5 million reconstruction of the Grand Concourse.
According to city records, Rodriguez received $81,400 as an artist fee from the project’s $407,000 total budget.
The monument features imagery including a phoenix, clenched fists, stylized eyes, the letters “B” and “X,” and a black ladder extending upward. Rodriguez has described the work as a tribute to the resilience of the Bronx, particularly in the aftermath of widespread arson during the 1970s.
Some neighborhood residents, however, have expressed dissatisfaction with the installation. Frankie Santiago, a Bronx resident, told The Post that he considers the structure unattractive.
In her column, Rodriguez wrote that she believes she became a focus of “right-wing media” attention following a May 2023 incident at Hunter College, where she was then an adjunct art professor. That episode involved a confrontation with student activists on campus and later led to media scrutiny. She did not address in the column her subsequent encounter with Fenton, who had approached her residence to ask about the campus incident.
Rodriguez also used the essay to criticize what she described as rising extremism in American politics. She wrote that, despite political and media challenges, she was able to complete the monument seven years after it was commissioned.
“She is an homage to the people of the Bronx, a lighthouse for our collective futures, and our witness,” Rodriguez wrote of the sculpture.
The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, which oversees the Percent for Art program, declined to comment on Rodriguez’s past legal issues or whether they were considered during the project’s completion.
Following the 2023 confrontation, Rodriguez was dismissed from her position at Hunter College. In February 2024, she was also let go from a teaching role at Cooper Union after controversial public statements. Her website does not currently list any active projects.
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