University Internet and Firewalls

I recently moved into a dorm on campus that has a "high speed" cable connection. However for the most part I have been unable to get good download speeds and have had little to no luck downloading with bitlord and no luck at all connecting to Limewire. I was just wondering if there was a way to get around the University's firewalls (I'm assuming this is what is causing the problems). I had read earlier about the proxy stuff and using a connection from another place, such as my home,I would be able to bypass the firewalls, but I was wondering if there was another way. Also I just thought I would add that I have a friend in another dorm who is connected directly to the network through an ethernet port, not through a cable modem like I am, and has had absolutely no problems connecting to anything and says he gets very high download speeds. Any help would be appreicated and I hope this question hasen't been answered before because I spent a great deal of time searching for an answer. Oh and bye the way, I don't know if this matters but the Router is a Cisco Systems uBR900 series. Thanks again.