“A Different World”: 35 Years Later

By Tyra Watts | Published December 7, 2023

At Kean University’s North Avenue Academic Building (NAAB) auditorium, the cast members of “A Different World,” Kadeem Hardison, Jasmine Guy, Darryl M. Bell, and Cree Summer discussed diversity, equity, and inclusion issues today that the ground-breaking series discussed 35 years ago as a part of Kean University President Lamont O. Repollet, Ed. D., Distinguished Lecture series.

“As a first-generation student myself, as someone who didn’t understand college, how to get to college, how much to pay for college, I knew I was going to college because of “A Different World,” Repollet said.

On Nov. 16, the “A Different World” actors were introduced by Repollet to a packed audience of Kean students, alumni, and other guests.

Repollet went on to explain that bringing this show wasn’t just for Lamont Repollet; it was more so for the question of what the purpose was and why bringing them here. Repollet told the audience how he thought about his experiences and the lessons he learned from the show, and then he started thinking from the perspective of Kean’s president. 

“Then I started thinking, as university president as I am wearing that hat, we’re having similar issues. We may not call it certain things, but we have similar issues within college campuses,” Repollet said. “We have our Me Too moments, we have protests, we have Black lives that matter. So to me, I started thinking, is it A Different World 35 years later?”

After Repollet’s introduction, a video played of “A Different World at Kean,” a spin on the original “A Different World” introduction theme song. The video showed various Kean students in their everyday lives, from relaxing at dorms to spending time in the game room and the library, as well as athletic and Greek life.

Much like the original “A Different World” introduction, the video finishes with students in caps andgowns celebrating graduation.

The “A Different World at Kean” rendition was well received by the audience and the “A Different World” cast members themselves, which kickstarted the discussion about the cast members’ favorite episodes, various clips from the show that the audience can see, and questions from the audience.

The discussion was helped by Chantonette Lyles, director of the Office of Accessibility Services at Kean, sitting in the center of the stage. On her left were Guy and Hardison, and on her right were Summer and Bell.

The first clip shown was from a season two episode titled “No Means No,” where Freddie Brooks (played by Summer) gets attacked by a popular athlete, Garth Parks, while on a date.

In the clip, Freddie returns to her dorm hall after being at the police station with Dwayne Wayne (played by Hardison). Freddie ended up reporting Parks to the police about the attack.

Everyone in the dorm hall, including Whitley Gilbert (played by Guy), was worried about Freddie. However, she was now safe, thanks to Dwayne’s help. Although Freddie was glad to be safe, she also decided to talk to someone at student services.

After the clip ended, the audience was allowed to ask questions. The first question came from a Kean student, a Delta member, who asked the “A Different World” actors about Freddie’s activism in the episode. 

Guy responded and expressed the importance of friendship.

“Friendship is the hero…” Guy said. “The most important thing.”

Summer also responded that the episode was “really beautiful” and was “very deep.”

Zachary Halley, a Kean student who is also a Sigma member, asked Hardison about Dwayne’s character and representation of Black men.

Hardison explained Dwayne’s character in the “No Means No” episode, highlighting where Dwayne gets stuck inside the car with Freddie and her date, Parks. 

“…I jumped up the car, and I slid off, and I had to jump back on it again, and he [Parks] just started pulling me down,” Hardison said, garnering a burst of laughter from the audience. “Run, Freddie…Wait, Freddie, wait!” I’m like, “What is this dude doing?”

Hardison also added that it was a moment for him and Dwayne to take a step up, and that was the moment for him, stating, “Oh, this is a good guy,” as well as labeling Dwayne as the “moral compass” of the show.

The second clip that was shown to the audience was another “A Different World” episode from season three titled“A World Alike,” where the character Kim Reese (played by Charnele Brown) is offered a scholarship by a company that has South African ties.

In the clip, Freddie and Julian, a transfer student, are protesting against South African apartheid, which led to a student meeting at the dorms that included Whitley, Dwayne, Ron Johnson (played by Bell), and Kim. After a lengthy discussion, Kim decided not to take the scholarship.

Ajani Carter, Kean student and Alpha member, asked Bell about Ron’s comedic timing and seriousness in the episode. 

Bell responded that it was a maturation process for Ron and showed the character going from silly and chasing girls to ending up in a serious relationship with Freddie and running his club.

“It was a growth process that all college students see,” Bell said. “There’s so much going on here when I watch, so I’m thinking with two brains: one, what’s happening right now, and two, I reminisce…part of what you see here with us and our chemistry, it’s real. This is my family; I love these people, and that chemistry is on TV.”

Bell provides an example of the second clip, particularly the part where Guy’s sister, Monica, was in one of the scenes. He also mentioned “A Different World’ cast mate Sinbad’s last time being on stage before his stroke was with the cast.

Bell then transitioned his response to what’s happening now, citing students protesting as an example.“If you go look at the Civil Rights Movement, of all those sit-ins at lunch counters, those weren’t 60-year-old people; those were high school students,” Bell said. “Those were kids getting spit at, hot coffee getting thrown at their faces. The burden of social change has landed on the young for decades.”

The third and last clip that was shown to the audience was a season five episode titled “The Cat’s in the Cradle,” where Ron and Dwayne get into a racial clash with three white students from a rival school, which leads to all of them in jail.

In the clip, Ron, Dwayne, and the white students are all in jail, discussing their racial experiences, which led to moments of tension between all five of them. Suddenly, a white cop gets involved and adds his perspective, and it challenges what the five men are discussing. 

A Kean graduate student asked Hardison, Guy, Summer, and Bell about a memorable behind-the-scenes moment of the episode.

Bell mentions his connection to actor Dean Cain, who portrayed one of the white students, through the fact that he was close with Yvette Lee Bowser, one of the writers of “A Different World,” and that Cain went to Princeton and played football with one of his friends. 

Not only that, but Bell also tells the story about a moment with Cain in which he had difficulty saying the N-word.

“Dean [Cain] and I were friends, so playing that scene was really hard,” Bell said. “We stood away from them [the white students] because just to get into that conversation was difficult. The guy who gave the speech about who was ashamed reached out to me on Facebook. We haven’t seen each other in a while, but we talked every now and then…if you saw the quivering in his lip, he was scared to say the word. He had to do it, and I don’t think we did it in rehearsal; they saved it for the taping… it just made him uncomfortable to do it.”

The conversation then went on to another one of the white actors in the episode, Jake Carpenter, who reacted to Dwayne’s emotional stories of himself and his grandfather’s experiences of racism as “riveting.” That moment led toDwayne wanting to fight the guy.

Bell described Carpenter’s acting as “Spectacular” and wasn’t sure whether or not he was acting. This caused the audience and the “A Different World” actors to get into fits of laughter.

Meanwhile, Hardison said he was trying to get at him for real.

Towards the end of the event, Lyles said to give applause to the students who asked questions and their role in the “A Different World at Kean” video. The audience applauded the students and the “A Different World” actors for attending the President’s Distinguished Lecture Series. 

The next Distinguished Lecture Series will have Lauren Ridloff, an actress who played in”The Walking Dead,” it will take place on Monday, Dec. 11, at 5 p.m. at the Liberty Hall Academic Center.

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