I am on a academic network (I don't know if that makes a
difference).When I copy files onto a CD-RW the file
properties all indicate "read only". I went back to the
files on my computer and deactivated "read only", but it
will not take. When I check the properties again the "read
only" check box continues to have a check in it. What do I
do?

If I understand you correctly, you're saying that
the files on the CD-RW are marked "read only",
even though the files you copied to the CD-RW
from your hard disk are not marked "read only".

Depending on the exact software you are using to
burn your CD-RW, this would be expected behavior.
When you do an "all at once" burn of the CD-RW (such
as what happens when you use the default burning
software bundled with Windows XP),
then you can't really update the CD-RW. You can
erase it completely and do another "all at once" burn,
but you can't, for example, delete an individual file,
or modify a few bytes in a file. In that case, therefore,
it would be logical for the files on the CD-RW to be
marked "read only".

If you want to be able to do modifications to data
on a CD-RW other than erasing the entire disc,
you'll need some CD-burning software that includes
buzzwords like "drive letter access (DLA)", or
"packet writing", or "UDF".