[john1082]

I, too, lament the loss of chapters in the west. I was the Pi at Texas Tech in the early eighties and assisted with their recovery from a house cleaning, a membership review that in retrospect was unnecessary. We lost Arizona and ASU for different reasons. Santa Barbara for numbers, UCLA for risk management, Chico and Fresno for difficulties in operation.

I do not want to see LXA become a midwest only Fraternity. To prevent that we must work harder to do more on our own and cultivate our own talent and leaders. The bi-annual leadership seminar is great, but it will always be an east coast, mid west venue. Those of us in the west are handicapped by distance. A one day road trip to get to a conference is easy with three guys in the car. A five day trip is less so.

With the loss of regional conferences we have lost that ability to train and share in a group setting. Perhaps we can explore it again, and devise a less costly way of doing it, one that would encourage undergrads to attend. But I believe that we must do this ourselves, not shutting Indianapolis out of it, but relying on ourselves to develop the programming and venue and faculty. A reginal meeting was held in Los Angeles a couple of years ago but the cost was $100+ per person. Can we do it for less?

I think we need to explore it. Clearly we must start small, but then, over time, expand the idea and do it on a regional basis. The old heads here remember the Conclaves which were an excuse to get drunk with 300 Brothers from your region. We cannot do that anymore. But can we explore other regional options? I think we must.