The Faculty Senate of the University of Massachusetts paved the way to the future of the North Pleasant Street corridor during last Thursday’s meeting.

The Senate hoped to assemble a broad array of perspectives and hear a number of different voices during the discussion.

The area of interest runs alongside a town-owned road, which bisects the campus and acts as a major conduit for vehicular and pedestrian travel through campus. The University is currently constructing the Integrated Science Building on one end of North Pleasant St. and has just recently finished the studio art building on the other.

According to Ernest May, the senate’s secretary, questions have arisen from constituencies regarding how to coordinate the area visually and functionally in ways that enhance public safety and are responsible to the environment.

“It’s an opportunity for the campus planners to put their ideas out in public and to get a response from the community,” said Ernest May. “And the community has some pretty diverse interests: we are looking at the aesthetics of the area, its functionality, the sometimes conflicting needs of pedestrians and vehicles, how development affects the campus as an arboretum, issues of historic preservation, budget constraints, being ‘green’, and the possibility of developing an ‘alumni walk’ through the area.”

“Obviously not all of these interests will be fully served, but everyone needs to be heard. This is the administration’s project; the senate is just the advisory, but by getting everyone together, we hope to balance out these considerations.”

Jim Cahill, director of Facilities Planning, and Patrick Daly, director of Physical Plant, presented the issues and current plans for the street. Respondents included Barbara O’Connor, Chief of Police (public safety); Bryan Harvey, associate provost for Academic Planning and Assessment; W. Brian O’Connor, head of biology, who has an office along the corridor; Jack Ahern, professor of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning; and Stephen Schreiber, program director of Art and Design. Roger Rideout, chair of the Campus Physical Planning Committee, was the moderator for the discussion.

Erik Taber can be reached at [email protected]