Most students will look back years from now with fond memories of URI, and you don't want them to say to their children, 'boy did I cheat my way through URI,' and lower their integrity, and the university's.
Students aren't knowledgeable, and are probably lazy and procrastinate, so they cheat. These are crimes based on a lack of knowledge. It's a terrible character trait to develop.
I would expect there are students out there who rationalize that they cheated out of boredom with the class. That's like justifying a bank robbery, you can't.