Students interviewed this week applaud the plan.
"It would be exciting for our tenth-year reunion to be held on the same year as the Olympics," says Huyen-Lam Q. Nguyen '98. "It would be a good excuse to come back."
Cambridge residents say they also would like to see the Games on their home turf.
"It would be pretty exciting if the Olympics were to come to Boston," says Chris M. Schneider.
But some city officials warn that a massive influx of people could cause property damage and disruption for Cambridge residents.
"It is a tremendous economic opportunity, but my only concern is the price we might pay," says Gerald W. Oldach, president of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce. "Can this be done without too heavy a price being paid by residents?"
Oldach says the residents of the city must be consulted during the planning process.
"The residents [of Cambridge], have a lot at stake," he says. "When we are asked to get involved I want a private/public partnership so that the citizens are brought in from day one."
Rowe says Harvard and Cambridge will also have to communicate well during the planning to keep relations good.
"There are complexities about the competing concerns through out the Harvard-Cambridge community," he says. "These are issues [concerning the communities] that took Atlanta years to iron out."
But Olympic organizers say they are working to consult with all people affected by the plans. And rather than dividing communities, they say, the Games will bring them together.
"It's a way to combat the image that Boston is inhospitable to people of color," Larsen says. "Whether we get the bid for 2008, or 2012, or 2016," it is a process that has seen the benefits already, it is good in itself."
The BOC will seek to involve people of all backgrounds in all levels of the organizing process, helping to ease problems of race relations, officials say.
"Far too often the city is brought together by crisis over issues concerning the negative aspects of the community," Larsen says. "The Olympics would be a positive vision. It asks the community to celebrate our differences in a positive way."