Are public wireless networks safe?

When I’m at school, I log onto a public wireless network (it’s a guest account for the university) and it has no security. I am wondering if it’s safe to use the internet on a public wireless network. I’ll never do things like enter my credit card information, but I’ll log into forums to post things and I’ll log into my email accounts. One of my email accounts is always logged in, though. Am I at risk for having my passwords stolen or other problems occurring? What’s the worst that could happen? Or in this case, nothing should happen (especially since it’s a university)? Do any of you log into accounts on public networks?

Thanks.

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"Always-logged-in" e-mail is handled via cookies and is computer-specific. So don't sweat it. While there may be a risk that your packets get intercepted, I wouldn't worry too much about it in general.

The risk is greater for other people on the same network to snoop around your shared folders, actually. Though arguably, that's what people do on university networks.

There's nowhere I can't reach.