Although the majority of students at Ball State are white, those of all races, ethnicities, religions, orientations, etc. can be found. Ball State greatly emphasizes diversity and multiculturalism, which are exemplified both in the student body and the faculty. Since BSU maintains a strong international student program, it is not uncommon to see around campus or in your classes students from the Middle East, China, Japan, and Indochina, Africa, South America, and Mexico. Likewise, Ball State is very open to members of the LGBTQ community, though unfortunately they are not as often recognized as the international community.
Most students are very casual in their classroom/ public apparel, donning at one end of the spectrum flip-flops or slip-on shoes and pajama pants, and at the other end the occasional wardrobe of business formal wear. In terms of what is generally acceptable, basically anything but outright nudity.
With such diversity, students of all sorts, intentionally or otherwise, interact at some point, sometimes forming lasting friendships between vastly different backgrounds of interests, etc. But for the most part, "birds of a feather stick together." Frat guys hang out with frat guys, sorority girls gravitate towards fellow Greek-letter purse bearers, and hipsters populate the hipster locales.
The majority of Ball State students come from middle-class to working-class households, some being the first in their whole family to have even applied to a college, some coming from a long line of BSU alums.
Many students at Ball State are from somewhere in the state of Indiana, widely ranging from remote small towns reminiscent of villages, others from metropolises such as Indianapolis, while still some students come from across the Midwest, and a few from as far as California or Florida.
As a school, Ball State is not far left, but is progressive on social issues and encourages social activism on the local and national levels. As a student body, many are politically aware, many active, but the leanings vary. Some students are radically left, adhering to Marxism or Socialism, some are avid Libertarians, while just as many are more conservative, especially since those coming from small towns in Indiana grew up under the prevailing conservatism of the state. Though as a whole, BSU's students tend to be more or less liberal by default.