After 35 years, the cast of “A Different World” has reunited on a tour of historically Black colleges and universities to promote enrollment and raise scholarship funding for current and future students.
“A Different World” was a spin-off of “The Cosby Show” that followed Denise Huxtable’s character, played by Lisa Bonet, as she attended Hillman College, a fictional HBCU in Virginia.
The “A Different World HBCU College Tour 2024″ kicked off Thursday at the Atlanta University Center as the cast visited Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College.
Cast members on the tour include Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison, Dawnn Lewis, Glynn Turman, Cree Summer, Charnele Brown and Darryl Bell.
Bell, who played Ron Johnson on the sitcom, helped organize the tour. He told CNN he sees the campus visits as an opportunity to honor the legacy of the show and introduce a new generation to HBCUs.
“Not a day goes by, for all of us who were involved with the show, where someone doesn’t come up to us and say, ‘I went to an HBCU because I watched ‘A Different World,’” Bell said.
Bell told CNN it’s important for young Black students to consider attending HBCUs because they will not only get a great education, but there’s also a special sense of family.
“HBCUs have produced some of our greatest leaders, greatest minds and greatest thinkers,” Bell said, adding that at HBCUs “there’s an investment that is much more personal.”