Couldnt agree more.
The conclave thing hasnt happened since about 1997. Thats when they move to RLC's (Regional Leadership Conferences). It was messed up when they did it too. The GHZ had made the decision to eliminate conclave meetings and when the General Assembly met in 1996, we voted, overwhelmingly so, to reinstate the conclave meetings. Not that the voice of the undergrads counts for much, becasue at the first GHZ meeting after GA, they again voted to do away with conclaves.
I coudl understand that it might have been for financial reasons, but conclave meetings are important (as you said above). Thats one of the reasons I didnt support the restructuring of the Student Advisory Committee. Its now no longer regionally based. One more nail in the coffin of regionalism.
Regionalism is important to me because Lambda Chi is a mid-western fraternity. Look at your paeds. Starting in Jersey and moving in a band westward to Illinois is where the majority of our chapters are. Thats ok. I have no problem with that. (There are more LXA chapters in Pennsylvania than Texas). But I want to make sure Texas chapters have a voice in the affairs of the fraternity. The best way to do that is being strong regionally. Without organizing regionally, I feel our voice is lost. At least as a conclave we were equal to the other 11 conclaves.
Conclaves no longer serve any purpose and just exist in name only.