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The Green saw more action than usual on Valentine’s Day as Cynthia Smock, better known as Sister Cindy, preached to a crowd of University of North Florida students who had contrasting thoughts on her message. Spinnaker asked students for their opinions on Smock’s controversial on-campus presence in an Instagram poll. While some saw the humor in Smock’s words, other students noted the dangerous aspects of her rhetoric. 

Seemingly using controversy to her advantage, Smock has gained a notable following on Instagram and TikTok where she shares videos of herself speaking to primarily college students. Smock recently visited the University of Florida, her alma mater, and the University of Central Florida. With Smock’s appearances at other Florida universities, students from UNF reached out to Smock on social media asking her to include UNF in her college speaking tour. 

In response to the Instagram poll, a few students praised Sister Cindy, calling her “my queen,” “entertaining,” and “great.” In contrast, some of the respondents described Smock as “delusional,” “psychotic,” “deranged,” and “hateful.” The majority of the student responses to Spinnaker’s poll criticize the content of Smock’s speeches. 

“Kinda funny but honestly scary if people actually take her seriously. Also she profits off of misogyny,” one respondent shared. 

Yelling through a microphone, Smock did not appear to shy away from utilizing vulgarity to spread her message. On social media, Smock often identifies her speeches as “slut shaming shows.” When speaking at the UNF Green, Smock compared women to “vampire hoes” multiple times and blamed women for tempting men. The harmful language did not stop at “slut shaming.” 

“I was cool with her being there until her husband blamed the Jews for WW2,” a respondent wrote, “She’s foul for that.” Smock’s husband, referred to as Brother Jed, vocalized his beliefs and, according to this response, continued to shift the speech rhetoric from humorous to harmful. 

A few students shared their belief that Smock creates a divide between religious and non-religious students, calling her a “false profit.” In an apparent attempt to shame students, Smock paraphrased passages from her own “HO NO MO” version of the Bible to fit her message.

“A bad representation of Christians that stigmatizes and confirms people’s false biases,” another respondent wrote. 

UNF students are not strangers to controversial campus preaching but Sister Cindy drew a particularly noticeable crowd of students as many recognized her from social media. A large number of Smock’s followers appear to find humor in her social media posts and respond ironically using her phrases and language. With Smock’s presence on campus, this interaction extended beyond digital platforms with an engaged audience of students ready to hear her speak. 

Students have questioned if her speeches are satirical or serious: 

“I lowkey think it’s satire, but I also don’t know cause of her age… she funny af though,” a student responded. 

Most respondents to the poll viewed the show put on by Smock Monday as one vocalizing harmful beliefs that should not be encouraged. 

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