As far as factions go, this campus is no exception to the usual divisions between administrators, students and faculty.

But, typically, professors and students seem to engage in a comfortable symbiosis where each knows they exist for the other ‘ even if due dates and finals may obscure the relationship in the last days of the semester.

That’s why today’s front page story about two professors who have turned on their neighbors (six Binghamton University students) is so appalling. The fact that ‘ as Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan told Pipe Dream ‘ these professors used Facebook to dig up dirt on the students who were living in the house illegally is shocking.

The R-1 zoning law, which the students have been found guilty of breaking and are being evicted for violating, demands that only ‘factual or functional families’ live in the designated area of Binghamton’s West Side. The restriction is not enforced unless a violation is brought to the attention of city officials.

So these professors used the social networking site to dig up evidence that the students were not related, and Mayor Ryan appeared at the front door of 8 Lincoln Ave. himself to inspect the house.

Sure, we’ve heard of University officials using the social networking site to bust students for dorm drinking and other conduct, but for Facebook to be used for an off-campus, private issue is a grotesque violation of the bond that should exist effortlessly between students and faculty.

These professors are at Binghamton to educate the same kinds of students who live in the house next to theirs, illegally or not. Their salaries and lifestyle depend on us.

The benefit of Binghamton’s West Side ‘ which in many ways has stepped in for the cooperative college town Binghamton so sorely lacks ‘ is that members of BU’s administration, faculty and student body can co-exist. But what does it say about the sense of community in the barren wasteland of Binghamton when faculty members betray their neighbors?

As one source said, students continue to be ‘ghetto-ized’ in Binghamton, and it’s upsetting that professors, who presumably appreciate the students they are here to teach, are part of the growing problem.

In the spirit of decency (if not neighborly understanding), these professors ought to have approached the students with any problems. After all, that’s what they would have done if they lived next to other faculty.