Clean access?

A change to Albright’s computer services this year includes the integration of the Cisco Clean Access Agent (CCAA). The CCAA is a tool which is used to make networking safer, cleaner, and more secure. However, it has become very tedious to students. Every night, anyone in the dorms loses internet at 3:30 in the morning, and has to login again...everyday. My personal experience is waking up, signing on with my username and password, being told I need to install a new certificate, installing it, cancelling the program just to enter my login information again, and then finally being connected to the network. Students on campus feel as though this has become a huge nuissance, and that some things need to change. “Waking up before class, when I would normally have enough time to log onto the internet and print my stuff doesn’t happen anymore. I never know if I’ll be able to get on the internet or not.”
That was one student’s account. Due to the diverse activity level on campus though, students require internet access at various times. Some students are out until 10:00 PM. “I go to work, I come back. I need to read an article online, I can’t figure this stupid system out. I enter the right information multiple times, can’t logon, and can’t contact IT.”
This is an issue, and the same rings true for weekends. Weekends are when the students have the most free time to dedicate to school work, yet this system has it’s errors. “I don’t have a car, I live in the Woods. Getting to the library to read an article for class is a hassle. Especially on weekends when fewer people go to campus.”
I understand the concerns about security. Students on campus need to order a lot of things, and put a lot of personal information out there. But kicking everyone off the internet at 3:30 in the morning is unnecessary in my opinion. When we log on, our computer gets checked to meet certain requirements. There has to be a way to allow us to stay connected, unless we break one of those requirements.
I’ve visited other schools who use the CCAA. They have to logon when they connect their computer, and then as long as that ethernet cord stays in, they stay connected. This program has come with many issues, and has become a major inconvenience for students. The access may be clean, but gaining it has become dirty.