The Cisco VPN client supports 64bit Linux, now. Just go to http://ist.mit.edu/cisco-anyconnect and get the latest version of the client. You could also hack the 32bit only version to work on a 64bit Linux system if you can't use the new version for some reason. There's a wikipage on how to do it.

You should be able to use a cert based web form to get ssh traffic allowed to your host. But, if you were using the VPN, you wouldn't encounter the firewall.

It does kinda suck. But, the aaronsw hacks were a game changer. MIT became a different organization after them.