Why do I have to log in to use the WiFi? What are the risks of just allowing anyone to use the WiFi?
An inherent property of networks is that they allow two or more objects to talk to each other. A computer network can consist of hundreds, thousands, or millions of devices, and if every device were allowed to talk to every other device, cyber attacks would be much more prevalent. To prevent this, firewalls control what objects can talk to other objects. For a firewall to be effective, it needs to know who's connected to a network, whether they're allowed to be on that network, and what they're allowed to access. If a malicious actor were to access Kenyon, they wouldn't be able to infect our network without first authenticating, and even then, there are additional safeguards to prevent the propagation of malicious code because of the firewall controlling who can talk to who.
There is also a legal requirement to identifying individual users on a network, hence our emphasis on controlling who has access to your network credentials. If someone is committing cybercrimes, we must be able to identify the person who is either perpetrating these crimes or is the victim. What network account a device is registered or authenticated under helps us identify people involved so that we can either pass this information to law enforcement (as is our obligation) or to assist the victim in warding off an attack.
If you commit cybercrimes on our network, including piracy of media or of software (delivery or receipt), we may be notified of such crimes by cyber-law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI and must pass this information to the perpetrator. This is why you should never share your Kenyon network password with anyone else. If someone else needs access to KenyonGuests, you should make them a guest account in ClearPass, but remember that you are still responsible for making sure that they adhere to Kenyon's technology policy.
What about how remote Kenyon is (geographically)? Kenyon is not as remote or "in a bubble" as many people think. Many visitors arrive to Kenyon every day for a variety of reasons, and they do not need to be authorized visitors to attempt to access our wireless network. Consider how you can access KenyonWiFi from the lawn of Chalmers. If you can, so can a bad guy with a laptop and some malware.