People, an ethernet connection means just that: the other user you are viewing is connected to you with an ethernet connection, namely the campus' own connection. That is, those people your friend sees in ethernet connection are connected to him (or her?) via the campus' Local Area Network (or LAN). These dlds will go, like, super fast (and even faster) because it's almost like directly connecting to PCs (actually, that's pretty much it).
Now, if you cannot see them, it is possible that you are on a different net than him (again, her?) and, possibly (if that is true), on your net there aren't as many people connected thru LW...

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iMac G4 OSX 10.3.9
RAM 256MB
LW 4.10.5 Basic
ADSL anything from 3 to 8Mbps/around 1024kbps

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And seal your fate forever
Our best years have passed us by
The Golden Age Of Leather"
-Blue Öyster Cult-