In February, President Simmons spoke at two meetings at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in New York City, one focused on cultures and curricula and the other on the global evolution of education . About thirty undergraduates were among the protesters demonstrating outside the WEF . Dean for Student Life Margaret Jablonski announced more restrictive rules for campus keg parties, including distributing wristbands to partygoers over twenty-one and charging them a per-drink fee rather than a cover charge . The Freeman Foundation awarded the East Asian studies department a $2 million grant to update its library collection . With a 9з7 board of trustees vote, the Providence Preservation Society rescinded its earlier approval of the University's plans to build a new life-sciences building on campus, asserting that the mass and scale of the structure could harm College Hill's historical value . The number of Brown graduate-school applications rose 27 percent this year, reflecting the national trend by recent college graduates of weathering the bad economy by extending their school years.