Greek Life - Fraternities

We visited USC this past weekend and were walking around campus to get a feel for the campus vibe. On both Friday and Saturday nites around 800pm, we were walking near the street where all the frats are located. In struck me as odd that in all but one of the frats, there was no evidence of any fraternity brothers at any of the houses - both in the houses and outside the houses. BTW - all the houses looked really nice, big, well maintained, etc.

While I wasn’t expecting to see rocking parties, it was a little strange not to see anyone in the houses or outside the houses on both weekend nights. Is there anyone aware of why this was occurring? Any feedback you may have would be helpful. thanks!

According to the academic calendar, it was Fall break (Thurs-Sun).

I am not sure which weekend you were referencing, but Fall Break was October 19-22.
In general terms; parties are not allowed in the fraternity houses. The fraternities rent out bars or the upstairs of bars; often in Five Points for parties or have them at houses where some of the fraternity members live/rent.
Most of the members living in the houses are sophomores. It is usually mandatory to live in the house the year after you join. There is an adult living in each house. Some are more strict than others. Since most members living there are underage, you technically are not allowed to drink there and some of the live in adults are very strict…you generally are not going to witness the scenes that you may have anticipated, by watching movies or on other campuses with different Greek setup with housing.

Wow, that’s interesting, nothing like my school (UVM) back in 1986