Monday was a day full of surprises for many at the NCAA Division I cross country championship at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. The Dartmouth men's team had hoped at the IC4A championship to avenge a loss suffered a week earlier to number one ranked Georgetown.
An overflowing toilet at The Dirt Cowboy Cafe that leaked into the basement and set off a fire alarm at about 8:45 last night caused the evacuation of 15 apartments and eight businesses. A fire engine, two police cars and about 40 people gathered on the corner of Main and East Wheelock Streets while officials from the fire department inspected the Dirt Cowboy, Murphy's Tavern and the apartments above the two stores. Fire Captain Michael Whitcomb identified the cause of the alarm, determined there was no fire and allowed the people back into the stores and apartments. Ken Watrous, an employee at the Dirt Cowboy who cleaned up the water that leaked into the basement, said no damage was done to the store.
Notable Chinese author, journalist and political activist Liu Binyan spoke about obstacles that lie in the democratization of China to an overflowing crowd in 13 Carpenter last night. In the keynote address of the College's conference on "The Future of Democracy in China," Liu emphasized that recent economic growth, while raising the standard of living in some cities, has inadvertently led to widespread chaos in China. Corruption, inflation, unemployment, poverty and bandits have become increasingly common, he said. Liu described how the inability of state-owned enterprises to compete in China's growing free market has led officials to compensate the government's economic loss by extracting more money from peasants and workers, sometimes violently. Bureaucrats who sense that their control is weakening, have recently sought to capitalize on China's economic boom, Liu said.