Apply CSS to users avatars by role

role.php

<?

add_filter('bp_member_avatar', 'bp_role_in_class');

function bp_role_in_class( $args ) {
  global $members_template ; 
  $user = new WP_User( $members_template->member->id );
        if ( !empty( $user->roles ) && is_array( $user->roles ) ) {
        	foreach ( $user->roles as $role )
        		$args['class'] .=  " " . $role;
        }
    return $args;
}

Please update this to reflect Panos' snippet in this thread: https://premium.wpmudev.org/forums/topic/buddypress-apply-css-to-users-avatars-by-role