[@andrew55 Participant 10 years, 4 months ago]

Got it! This seems to work:

<?php
$reply_user_id = bbp_get_reply_author_id();
global $wp_roles;
$reply_user = new WP_User( $reply_user_id );
$roles = $reply_user->roles;
$role = array_shift($roles);
if  ($role == 'graduate' ){
echo "<a href='http://www.mysite.com/page2/'>Graduate</a>";
}
?>