<p>I mean large groups of people in a small space, gathered together solely for the sake of recreation. If there is alcohol, or drugs, so be it. If there is sex, I think of that as an orgy and that's outside my scope at this moment.</p>
<p>Probably there will be dancing.</p>
<p>And I am precisely trying to figure out whether the institution condones the parties, throws the parties, ignores the parties, requires permits for the parties, or tries to stamp them out.</p>
<p>Princeton the institution tolerates the eating clubs but is gradually trying to whittle down their central role. Still, there are only one or two alternatives for actual parties so far, the Wilson College Black Box, and used to be the Architecture School threw a wild one in the spring...</p>
<p>How visible are parties? Do you hear about them via emails? On Facebook? On fliers posted around the campus? Are they hosted only by organizations like the Arts Club or the Asian Students Club? Or are they frat parties? Or, like Princeton, on a street where you know exactly what is happening in each building and when the parties are open, when they are members-only, when they are theme parties, when they are on tap or off tap.</p>
<p>When I heard that at Brown there are no university sponsored parties, and all are given by theme groups, I could tell that would be very different. Someone told me at Harvard you need a permit to have more than 15 people at a party. That could be urban legend, but if true would have an impact. And I am sure Yale's residential colleges have parties.</p>
<p>And, of course, there is the legendary "state school party". I don't even know were these parties happen. I am just trying to figure out a) what is it like at schools my son is interested in b) in the larger picture, what are the various patterns and what impact do they have on the culture?</p>
<p>I suppose I was thinking maybe I had discovered a secret lever to the magic of culture....</p>