After grabbing lunch downtown, students and faculty dash to class – carefully walking around the Arch, past the Chapel, dodging squirrels at the library, checking their watch as they run past Sanford Stadium between the bookstore and Tate – and finally slide into their Miller Learning Center classroom, right on time.

This historic path through North Campus to the area surrounding the Tate Student Center expansion is mirrored in a 64-foot mural seen by those walking from the original Tate Center to the new area.

“My original vision was to have every single building on campus painted,” artist Jamie Calkin said in a telephone interview Friday.

Calkin, a University alumnus, said he had started sketching a campus mural, but abandoned the idea after realizing the scope of what he was trying to do.

He also said such a mural would not be as aesthetically pleasing as something that focused on one area of campus.

“To me, the most interesting thing for the University is the Arch, as it’s a transition from downtown to campus,” he said, adding he wanted to include the Tate Center – and the idea for the mural was born.

Some of Calkin’s personal touches to the mural include tributes to his wife, Katie – in the airplane banner – and his daughters, who are painted in the art van driving down College Avenue.

Calkin’s mural proposal was one of many looked at by project managers and the Tate Student Advisory Board. The call for artists was sent out in 2008 to local artists and students in the Lamar Dodd School of Art.

“Painting a mural – if that’s not your specialty, it’s very hard to do,” Willie Banks, director of student affairs, said in a telephone interview Friday. “Some artists cannot do murals.”

The mural proposals, both from students and professionals, were prioritized and narrowed down by the board and project managers, Banks said.

Stephen Dorner, a senior from Alpharetta, is the chairman of the 10-member student board. In a telephone interview Friday, he said Calkin’s mural was chosen because of the artist’s experience and style. Some of Calkin’s other pieces are featured in Grady College, Moore College and Aderhold.

“It stood out,” Dorner said. “There’s a certain playfulness to it. We really liked the way he depicted campus.”

Despite the color and artistic flair, the $28,000 price tag originally left some unanswered questions.

“If students aren’t made aware of where their money’s going, then we have to assume there’s something fishy going on,” said Whitney Kizer, a senior from Appling, in a telephone interview Sunday. “I’d like to see a better breakdown of what my student fees went for in Tate II.”

What the student fees didn’t go toward, Banks said, was the artwork in Tate II, including Calkin’s mural. He said the money came from a separate department budget.

Calkin said the money was spent mostly on materials and renting a separate studio in which to paint the mural. He said the most expensive part was adding an automotive finish to the $50 plywood panels to preserve the watercolor artwork. Calkin also used the money to pay for installation of the mural into Tate II.

Because the mural showcases the area most associated with the University, confusion arose as to where the rest of campus went.

Kizer said upon seeing the mural for the first time, she assumed it was a campus mural, and then realized that her college was one of several not represented.

“I thought the mural was a beautiful piece artistically,” she said, “but if the building is meant for students, then every student should be represented.”

“Each college contributes equally in my mind to the University as a whole,” she said.

Kizer said she thought perhaps a second mural should be added that showcases other parts of campus, as students can walk to the area from all over – not just the Arch.

Scott Angle, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, said in an interview Sept. 15 that he does not have a strong opinion of the mural not representing his college.

“I loved the building; I think it’s an important building that is critical in moving the campus forward,” he said. “Knowing the intent [of the mural], I would have preferred to see the entire campus represented, but I understand the difficulty of doing that.”

“We need to make sure that people are sensitive to the fact that we are one whole campus,” he said.

Banks said he was “sad to hear that people on South Campus feel that they have been slighted.”

“This really isn’t a conspiracy,” he said. “It’s not to say the rest of campus isn’t important.”

“We love all parts of campus, but we had limited space,” he said.