St. Thomas officials were hesitant about letting Globally Minded Student Association (GMSA) and the Sociology and Criminal Justice Club (SCJC) show the movie “The Anatomy of Hate: A Dialogue to Hope,” but students were praising the film and thanking the clubs after its March 8 screening.

The movie was created  to start dialogue between people and to put an end to the divisions that are created in the world due to hate.

“As a Catholic institution, we’re about advancing the common good, and this film I felt would help do that,” said Matthew Vicknair, president of the Sociology and Criminal Justice Club and vice president of GMSA.

Even though the film was made with good intentions, the university did not think it should be shown on campus because of certain language, ideas and images.

“There’s a lot of comments made in it that the school felt would anger students and that we would need the professors here in order to help explain to students, ‘here is the reality of it. Please don’t get upset and join the American Nazis,’” Vicknair said.

The university agreed to let GMSA and SCJC show the film only if a panel discussion was held after the show.

Cassie Bean, GMSA adviser, warned the audience before the movie started that it was not going to be “some Disney or Pixar movie.”

Soon after the movie began, students started to understand what Bean meant.

Gasps and sounds of disbelief could be heard throughout the auditorium when images, such as a man cutting another man’s throat, were shown.

The film might have been intense, but sophomore Anthony Nasser said this movie was necessary.

“This is what we need on this campus. We just can’t put everything under the rug. I mean there is hate on this campus and people will hate, but there is a solution,” Nasser said.

Senior Liana Bratton agreed with Nasser.

“I’m really excited that this was here and provided a forum for people to really engage in meaningful conversation,” Bratton said.

The discussion started off slow, but by the end, the leaders for GMSA and SCJC were having trouble cutting the dialogue off.

Gerald Schlabach, Justice and Peace Studies program director, is one of the professors who was a part of the panel. He told students to listen and try to find common ground with people, even if they do not agree with their views or beliefs.

“That helps to disarm the hatred from their direction by showing real concern for people as human beings,” Schlabach said.

“It brought it together that we are all human beings,” Nasser said.

At the end of the discussion, Vicknair encouraged students to come together to help end hatred.

“It takes a community. It doesn’t take individuals,” Vicknair said.

Olivia Detweiler can be reached at detw5520@stthomas.edu.