This new initiative will provide the means of what Student Union (SU) calls a “unified communications platform,” where all students, faculty, staff and administrators can share information with the same tools.

The decision came after a yearlong evaluation of Live@Edu and the similar application Google Apps for Education and numerous surveys, town hall meetings, product demonstrations and focus groups.

Though many students opted for Google Apps in their surveys, Nelson said that Live@Edu will offer all the features that Google Apps offers and “much more.”

Each student’s Live@Edu account will provide a 10-gigabyte e-mail inbox, 25 gigabytes of file storage space, a sharable calendar, online workspaces and direct integration with social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

With the new application, students will be able to search the e-mail addresses of classmates, arrange appointments with advisors and complete other functions all within the same system.

Visit studlife.com throughout the week for more updates on Live@Edu.

The point could have been any one of the 75 scored in a 3-0 victory over Concordia University on Friday’s senior night.

Seniors Alli Alberts, Ali Crouch, Audra Janak and Nikki Morrison of Washington University’s No. 4 volleyball team all contributed to the play. A dig by Alberts, a set by Janak, a fake by Morrison and a spike by Crouch gave WU a 1-0 lead in the third set. “It meant a lot for us to be on the court at the same time,” Crouch said.

In their time at Wash. U., the seniors have helped capture the 2006 UAA and the 2007 NCAA Division III national championship, a feat they will try to accomplish once more in their final season in uniform.

“It’s weird to think the season is almost over,” junior Erin Albers said. “We all love the seniors.”

Morrison and Crouch ran wild against Concordia University, recording 15 and a career tying high of 13 kills respectively as Wash. U. won in straight sets (25-13, 25-21 and 25-15).  Janak led with 43 assists and Alberts had a team high of 11 digs. “All the seniors played exceptionally well and gave a little extra,” freshman Erin Kasson said.

Concordia had a 21-19 lead in the second set before a kill by Janak off an Alberts assist and another kill by Crouch knotted the score at 21. Janak and sophomore Nicole Penwill had back to back block assists, freshman Tricia Brandt sent in a service ace and Crouch clinched the set with kill.

Sophomore Zach Streit, who was dressed as a penguin for a Halloween party, did pushups for every kill Crouch made on Friday. “No words to express it,” Crouch said. “I love Zach.”

Prior to the Culver-Stockton College match, the seniors were presented with gifts from their coaches and younger teammates. It was Albers and Kasson who tore up the court against Culver-Stockton, as the Bears mauled the Wildcats with a 25-19, 25-19, 25-14 lashing. Middle hitters Albers and Kasson had 12 and 10 kills respectively.

Monmouth College nearly pulled off an upset Saturday morning. After the Bears demolished the unranked Scots 25-11 and 25-14, the Fighting Scots held on to early leads to defeat the Bears 25-21 and 25-23, forcing a fifth set.

“Wash. U. made some uncharacteristic errors, and we didn’t,” Monmouth Head Coach Kari Shimmin said.

The freshmen duo of outside hitter Kristen Thomas and setter Lauren Budde connected four times in the decisive 15- 9 fifth set. Thomas’ career high of 18 kills propelled the Bears to victory. “It shows that we can’t let up,” Morrison said.

Wash. U. turned up the pressure against Millikin University, opening up with a 25-13 win. Morrison, Albers, Crouch, Alberts and Kasson all had seven or more kills in the definitive victory. Alberts led the offense and defense with team highs of 10 kills and 17 digs as the Bears took the second and third sets 25-19 and 25-14.

Morrison, Albers and Kasson were named to the All Tournament Team. Morrison led the Bears with 35 kills this weekend while Albers and Kasson both recorded 34 kills. The three hitters accounted for more than 50 percent of the Bear’s 200 kills this weekend.

The Bears are the No. 2 seed in the University Athletic Association championships after falling to No.2 Emory University. Wash. U. takes on No. 3 seed Carnegie Mellon University, No. 6 Case Western Reserve University, and No. 7 New York University this weekend. The conference finals will be held at 4:30 p.m. in the Field House on Saturday with the winner receiving an automatic postseason bid.

“Now’s the time we step up and play hard,” Brandt said. “Hopefully we’ll have lots of fans and kick butt.”

The tickets, which were allotted to Washington University by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), were first distributed through the University’s lottery system. When the number of tickets available exceeded the number of lottery numbers drawn, tickets were distributed to student leaders.

“The real reason we had more seats in there was that we had a lot more partial and obstructed view seats on the sides,” Rob Wild, assistant to the Chancellor and chair of the Vice Presidential Debate Steering Committee, said. “Because this is not like a theater where we know how many seats there are, literally, until 48 hours up to the debate they were still setting the number of seats on the floor.”

There was no shortage of interest in attending the debate: 7,148 students applied for tickets before the lottery closed on Friday, Sept. 26. Initially the University expected to receive tickets for only 100 to 150 seats, but as the week progressed, it quickly became clear that more seating would be available.

“I’m just so thrilled,” Wild said. “We thought we were going to get 150 students in and we got nearly three times that many.”

Because the University was given so many tickets, more tickets could be distributed to students in the lottery.

389 students came to the drawing, leaving 43 tickets to spare. With such a substantial number of tickets remaining—and no way of contacting the students with lower lottery numbers—University administrators decided to give tickets to student leaders who were not a part of the lottery.

According to Assistant Vice Chancellor for Students Jill Carnaghi, there were three options: the University could have let the seats go empty, given the tickets to administrators or given them to students they know.

“[Letting the seats go empty] would have been a crime, and giving the tickets to administration and faculty would go against everything we stand for, and what we have done in each debate we got,” Carnaghi said.

In the end, the decision to keep all the CPD tickets in the hands of students allowed 43 students who were not in the lottery to receive tickets. Students targeted for the second distribution of tickets included campus leaders, volunteers and students known to the administration.

The total 432 tickets distributed to students do not include an unknown number of students who received tickets from the media outlets for whom they were working.

Freshman Parsa Bastani was one of the lucky few who received a ticket but was not in the top 300 lottery.

“I was pulsating entering, because I wasn’t originally supposed to have a ticket,” he said. “It was such an electric atmosphere.”

As an undecided voter, junior Jimmy Cox was focused on the issues.

“I’m very excited,” he said. “I’m just looking forward to hear[ing] both of them. I’m on the fence right now, so I want to hear what they have to say.”

Overall, the debate’s focus seemed to be on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, as many students went into the debate with their eyes on her.

“I pretty much have a very Tina Fey-opinion of Sarah Palin right now, so it’ll be interesting whether the extra training she’s done for this has gotten her up to date,” junior Emily Lebsack said. “As for Biden, I have a lot of respect for him and for his experience.”

With additional reporting by Sam Guzik and Dan Woznica.