My friend Google led me to a quick Terminal command that will restore functionality to Network Connect and allow me to access the gwireless campus network. How to use Network Connect in Snow Leopard in Five Easy Steps:

1. Open Network Connect and check the version number by mousing to “Network Connect > About Network Connect.” It will probably be 6.2, 6.3, or 6.4. Mine was 6.3. Quit Network Connect.
2. Open Terminal and type “sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/juniper/nc/6.3.0/” where “6.3.0″ is your Network Connect version number. Press Enter after typing this first command and you will get the following warning before it executes:
   “WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data lossor the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your typing when using sudo. Type “man sudo” for more information. To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.”
3. Enter your password and press Enter. You will not see a confirmation; you will only see additional text if the command did not execute properly.
4. Next, type “sudo mkdir ‘/Applications/Network Connect.app/Contents/Frameworks’” and press Enter. Again, you will not see a confirmation or any additional text unless the command was incorrect.
5. Quit Terminal and open Network Connect again. You should now be able to connect to the wireless network.

Although I successfully connected to the wireless network after this hack, surfing the internet in both Firefox 3.5 and Safari 4 has been spotty. I have full signal strength, but it sometimes takes me multiple attempts to load a page. Eventually the page always loads, but simple browsing through the vpn is annoying. This problem might just be because I’m using a dorm wireless network that I’ve never used before, but I’m inclined to think that Snow Leopard and/or Network Connect are part of the problem.

Further notes:
As of now, this problem with Network Connect has not been added to the unofficial Snow Leopard Compatibility Chart at wikidot or in Apple’s official help document. Credit for this hack goes to jehan over at The Vagary. According to his source, Network Connect fails under Snow Leopard because the upgrade changes permissions for the 6.2.0 (and above) directory so that it is no longer writable, and because Network Connect fails if the Frameworks directory does not exist in its app bundle.

Update (5 September 2009):
The Cisco VPN Client has now been updated to work with 10.6 Snow Leopard. Instead of going to vpn.gwu.edu to connect to GWireless, download the Cisco VPN Client from the ISS Help Desk (GW username and password required). The Cisco Client is faster to connect to GWireless and will not boot you off the network after a certain amount of time. However, it is not browser-based and must be installed to work.