<p>Back in my day (at Harvard) there were parties in dorm rooms. I think these were advertised by word of mouth. There were also parties in the Houses, these were usually held in the largest common space - often the dining room, sometimes jr. or senior common room. These were advertised by flyers in the Houses, possibly outside the houses. There used to be a big freshman mixer in what was then a big unused hall that now is the freshman dining hall. Other colleges (mostly the women's colleges) were invited to that one. </p>
<p>And it being the 70s House parties had bars and dorm parties had bars and pot.</p>
<p>Currently, Caltech's houses also give parties - I'm not sure how often, but since the themes seem to require lots of sets, there were signs of the parties on our visits that got commented on. (A miniature Eiffel Tower is one example.) There is a large Biology department party that was (and still is) hosted by Prufrock House. Though since it's no longer allowed to just have Bio grad students it may now be a Halloween party for all the grad students. You haven't seen anything till you've seen a Nobel Laureate (Ed Lewis) as a Magritte painting or a fishtank. <a href="http://www.its.caltech.edu/%7Eprufrock/Special/Halloween/halloween.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.its.caltech.edu/~prufrock/Special/Halloween/halloween.html</a></p>