Mayer Suggests Boston for Olympics

Tufts University President Jean Mayer this week suggested Boston as an alternative site for the summer Olympic games, now scheduled to take place in Moscow.

Mayer proposed forming a task force to "look into the feasibility" of using college dormitories in the Boston area to house Olympic atheletes, Teresa M. Pease, a spoksesman for Mayer, said Thursday.

Summer Housing

Mayer also suggested using college atheletic facilities for Olympic competition, she added.

Pease said Mayer supports President Carter's call for a boycott of the summer games as a response to the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.

Prepped

But "he feels very strongly that the atheletes who have prepared have a right to go forward into it and compete," she added.

Mayer's proposal has received the support of the presidents of Boston University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard.

None of the college presidents was available for comment yesterday.

Go For It

Mayer also received "generally favorable responses" from the U.S. Olympic Committee, local and state government officials and the White House, Pease said.

A spokesman for Boston Mayer Kevin H. White said Thursday White had no comment on Mayer's proposal.

Nyet

Joseph Onek, deputy counsel to the president, said yesterday, "With regard to Boston or any other city, we would prefer that the games be held outside the United States."

He said Carter wants to keep the summer games out of the country "so that it does not appear to be a polar situation between the U.S. and Moscow" and because more countries are likely to participate if the Olympics are held elsewhere.

Carter has said unless the Soviets withdraw their troops from Afghanistan by February 20, he will ask the U.S. Olympic Committee and the Olympic committees of U.S. allies to boycott the summer games in Moscow. The International Olympic Committee recently said it oppose moving the site of the Games.