diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/forum/views.py b/lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/forum/views.py
index 8804623f4b..32e2117508 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/forum/views.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/forum/views.py
@@ -236,6 +236,7 @@ def forum_form_discussion(request, course_id):
             'annotated_content_info': saxutils.escape(json.dumps(annotated_content_info),escapedict),
             'course_id': course.id,
             'category_map': category_map,
+            'roles': saxutils.escape(json.dumps(utils.get_role_ids(course_id)), escapedict),
         }
         # print "start rendering.."
         return render_to_response('discussion/index.html', context)
@@ -315,6 +316,7 @@ def single_thread(request, course_id, discussion_id, thread_id):
             'thread_id': thread_id,
             'threads': saxutils.escape(json.dumps(threads), escapedict),
             'category_map': category_map,
+            'roles': saxutils.escape(json.dumps(utils.get_role_ids(course_id)), escapedict),
         }
 
         return render_to_response('discussion/single_thread.html', context)
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/utils.py b/lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/utils.py
index a4ab9342d2..4ceea6b82c 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/utils.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/utils.py
@@ -39,6 +39,14 @@ def strip_blank(dic):
 def merge_dict(dic1, dic2):
     return dict(dic1.items() + dic2.items())
 
+def get_role_ids(course_id):
+    roles = Role.objects.filter(course_id=course_id)
+    staff = list(User.objects.filter(is_staff=True).values_list('id', flat=True))
+    roles_with_ids = {'Staff': staff}
+    for role in roles:
+      roles_with_ids[role.name] = list(role.users.values_list('id', flat=True))
+    return roles_with_ids
+
 def get_full_modules():
     global _FULLMODULES
     if not _FULLMODULES:
diff --git a/lms/static/coffee/src/discussion/utils.coffee b/lms/static/coffee/src/discussion/utils.coffee
index c65a3c15fd..52a0b510ac 100644
--- a/lms/static/coffee/src/discussion/utils.coffee
+++ b/lms/static/coffee/src/discussion/utils.coffee
@@ -15,6 +15,11 @@ class @DiscussionUtil
   @getTemplate: (id) ->
     $("script##{id}").html()
 
+  @isStaff: (user_id) ->
+    ids = $("#discussion-container").data("roles")
+    staff = _.union(ids['Staff'], ids['Moderator'], ids['Administrator'])
+    _.include(staff, parseInt(user_id))
+
   @bulkUpdateContentInfo: (infos) ->
     for id, info of infos
       Content.getContent(id).updateInfo(info)
diff --git a/lms/static/coffee/src/discussion/views/response_comment_view.coffee b/lms/static/coffee/src/discussion/views/response_comment_view.coffee
index 34cbaac7ad..fbd3b917a1 100644
--- a/lms/static/coffee/src/discussion/views/response_comment_view.coffee
+++ b/lms/static/coffee/src/discussion/views/response_comment_view.coffee
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ if Backbone?
       @initLocal()
       @delegateEvents()
       @renderAttrs()
+      @markAsStaff()
       @$el.find(".timeago").timeago()
       @convertMath()
       @
@@ -29,3 +30,7 @@ if Backbone?
       body.children("p").each (index, elem) ->
         $(elem).replaceWith($(elem).html())
       MathJax.Hub.Queue ["Typeset", MathJax.Hub, body[0]]
+
+    markAsStaff: ->
+      if DiscussionUtil.isStaff(@model.get("user_id"))
+        @$el.find("a").after('<span class="staff-label">staff</span>')
diff --git a/lms/static/coffee/src/discussion/views/thread_response_view.coffee b/lms/static/coffee/src/discussion/views/thread_response_view.coffee
index f4719800cc..c6f0643de6 100644
--- a/lms/static/coffee/src/discussion/views/thread_response_view.coffee
+++ b/lms/static/coffee/src/discussion/views/thread_response_view.coffee
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ if Backbone?
       @renderAttrs()
       @$el.find(".posted-details").timeago()
       @convertMath()
+      @markAsStaff()
       @renderComments()
       @
 
@@ -26,6 +27,11 @@ if Backbone?
       element.html DiscussionUtil.postMathJaxProcessor DiscussionUtil.markdownWithHighlight element.html()
       MathJax.Hub.Queue ["Typeset", MathJax.Hub, element[0]]
 
+    markAsStaff: ->
+      if DiscussionUtil.isStaff(@model.get("user_id"))
+        @$el.addClass("staff")
+        @$el.prepend('<div class="staff-banner">staff</div>')
+
     renderComments: ->
       comments = new Comments()
       comments.comparator = (comment) ->
diff --git a/lms/templates/discussion/index.html b/lms/templates/discussion/index.html
index 53cbe2d9ed..a0cdcdcb44 100644
--- a/lms/templates/discussion/index.html
+++ b/lms/templates/discussion/index.html
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 
 <script type="text/javascript" src="${static.url('js/discussions-temp.js')}"></script>
 
-<section class="discussion container" id="discussion-container" data-course-id="${course_id}" data-user-info="${user_info}" data-threads="${threads}">
+<section class="discussion container" id="discussion-container" data-roles="${roles}" data-course-id="${course_id}" data-user-info="${user_info}" data-threads="${threads}">
     <div class="discussion-body">
         <div class="sidebar"></div>
         <div class="discussion-column">
@@ -36,4 +36,4 @@
 </section>
 
 <%include file="_underscore_templates.html" />
-<%include file="_thread_list_template.html" />
\ No newline at end of file
+<%include file="_thread_list_template.html" />
diff --git a/lms/templates/discussion/single_thread.html b/lms/templates/discussion/single_thread.html
index 2ddeae4613..0cc1f28b24 100644
--- a/lms/templates/discussion/single_thread.html
+++ b/lms/templates/discussion/single_thread.html
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 
 <%include file="_new_post.html" />
 
-<section class="discussion container" id="discussion-container" data-course-id="${course_id}" data-user-info="${user_info}" data-threads="${threads}" data-content-info="${annotated_content_info}">
+<section class="discussion container" id="discussion-container" data-roles="${roles}" data-course-id="${course_id}" data-user-info="${user_info}" data-threads="${threads}" data-content-info="${annotated_content_info}">
   <div class="discussion-body">
     <div class="sidebar"></div>
     <div class="discussion-column"></div>