A Different World

Its the first day at Hillman, and Denise needs to settle with a roommate.

Denise finds out that her dorm payment check bounced and that her checking account is overdrawn.

After convincing the brand new dorm monitor, her roommate Jaleesa, to run in the first place, Denise has to live with the repercussions of breaking one of the monitor's new rules.

Dwayne tutors Denise in calculus late into the night and is forced to leave the locked all female dormitory via the fire escape. The problem is, the only way to get to the only unlocked exit is through Whitley's room.

Maggie and Whitley debate on how women should balance a career and family life. Dwayne tries to get a campus d.j. job.

Denise's little sister Rudy visits Hillman and makes Whitley her new role model.

Denise's grandfather comes for a visit during homecoming weekend, and both he and Denise are planning to steal the rival school's mascot, unbeknownst to the other.

Denise joins the Hillman track team, but to her dismay it turns out to be more than she bargained for.

Denise has a crush on her geology professor.

Everybody is participating in secret Santa and are surprised to find out who they got.

Jalessa takes bets on how Dwayne will act when a graduate student tries to seduce him.

Denise volunteers as a school counselor during final exams to get out of writing a major research paper.

A former Hillman student returns to college to earn her degree.

Denise leads a campaign to get her streetwise study partner enrolled at Hillman.

On Valentine's day, Dwayne is the host of a radio station and he decides to find his match through his radio show. While Lettie gets a surprise visitor.

Denise and Whitley both appear in a play, and each believes the leading man is interested in her.

Whitley believes she has the Miss Hillman contest wrapped up -- until Denise enters Dwayne as a contestant.

Jaleesa gets help from her roommates in overcoming her stage fright in speech class.

Clair visits Denise at Hillman College; Whitley looks for somebody with whom she can celebrate her birthday.

Dwayne's date with Denise is interrupted when a despondent Whitley shows up.

Maggie cares for an egg as part of a psychology class assignment on parenting.

Theo pays an unforgettable visit to his sister Denise at Hillman College.

Jalessa and Whitley have new roommates; Dwayne tries to avoid a dreaded course.

Dwayne and Ron's friendship is strained when they work together on a research paper.

Walter and Jalessa are apprehensive about starting a romantic relationship.

Whitley is upset by the romantic dreams she has been having about Dwayne.

Jalessa and Whitley are given the chance to become back-up singers for Gladys Knight.

Whitley takes a homesick Kim to a restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner.

Whitley wants to be the team leader in an interdormitory step competition.

Dwayne falls for his calculus teacher's daughter.

Whitley is squeezed out when Kim's boyfriend monopolizes their room.

Whitley is caught in the middle when Dwayne stages a sit-in at the dean's office.

Whitley offers her support to Kim when she fears that she may be pregnant.

Freddie turns to alcohol when she lacks inspiration in her writing.

Clair Huxtable gives a business etiquette seminar at Hillman.

Couples at Hillman College experience broken hearts and discord as Valentine's Day approaches.

Whitley's mother is determined to find a boyfriend for her daughter.

Dwayne and Ron's friendship is strained after they pledge a fraternity.

Walter becomes jealous when Jaleesa's ex husband, Lamar, shows up.

Kim takes on too many responsibilities; Mr. Gaines moves in with Col. Taylor.

Kim gets Whitley a job at the Pit to help pay for the car she damaged.

Dwayne fears that Freddie may face date rape when she goes out with an aggressive athlete.

Ron claims that Dwayne has Jesse Jackson's endorsement for student government president.

As the semester comes to an end, students make plans for the summer.

Dwayne and Whitley get to know one another better on an eventful plane ride back to campus while everyone else adapts to the now co-ed dorms.

Whitley's avoidance of math classes threatens her chances of graduating.

Tensions run high in the dorm when new director Walter clashes with Jaleesa.

Whitley loses faith in her youth-center dance students when her pocketbook disappears.

In New York to attend her father's second wedding, Whitley and Dwayne meet up with the Huxtable clan.

Despite Whitley's objections, rap group Heavy D. and the Boyz arrive at Hillman for a benefit concert.

Romance is in the air as Walter pops the question to Jaleesa and Dwayne asks Whitley to date him.

Hiring homecoming at Hillman College, Freddy and Kim disobey their parents and go to a concert they were told not to go to when Kim's father pays an unexpected visit.

The gang rushes Kim to see her policeman father, who has been shot while on duty.

It is Christmas time at Hillman and Whitley is acting as bitter as the Grinch. One night Whitley is visited by the ghost of Christmas past, present, and future and told to change her ways, or else.

The Dean invites Fedsy and Whitley over for her freshman tea and they both fight over the Dean's approval. While Dwayne and Ron get a house guest that does all their chores for them.

Dwayne's old friend comes to visit and convince Dwayne to come to his college because he believes you become the best by being with the best and starts to judge Dwaynes best friend Ron, While Kernal Taylor and Mr. Ganes go to a get together for people who were once in the army.

Twain writes a palm about his greatest passion--math--but Whitley thinks it's about her. Freddie feels guilty about seeing two different guys.

While shopping for her father's birthday present, a jewelry store clerk discriminates against Whitley. Civilians Dwayne and Walter go on a ROTC weekend trip with Col. Taylor and Cadet Sgt. Ron.

Mrs. Clair Huxtable Denise's mother, comes to videotape and interview Hilman's students while Freddy finds part of the underground rail road.

Freddie and transfer student Julian's plans to protest South African apartheid cause Kim to reconsider accepting a need scholarship.

Whitley fixes Dwayne up with another girl, but then has trouble dealing with it.

Dwayne and Walter weave a tall tale about their basketball-recruiting trip, which took some strange turns.

Whitley has a touch of "senioritis", but it's her job prospects that look a little sickly. Ron's sister, Rachel visits.

Whitley is Little Miss Lonely when she thinks everyone's forgotten her 21st birthday.

Whitley, Jaleesa, and Freddie secretly plan to raise money for Kim; and Dwayne and Ron portray hoopsters in a commercial.

Awaiting an ROTC dinner where Col. Taylor is to be roasted, Ron sweats bullets over the choosing of "cadet of the year"

While on vacation, Dwayne and Ron gain possession of some drug peddlers' cash and drugs.

Dwayne and Ron try to thwart the drug dealers by posing as girls.

Dwayne's mom visits when Dwayne is inducted into an honors society. Julian asks Whitley to spend summer with him in DC.

Whitley finally decides to hook up with Dwayne when she finds out that he did not just bring a souvenir for her back from Japan, but he also brought himself a souvenir, one that is a living human being, and it's female. Meanwhile, Whitley also decides to bunk with Juleesa.

Whitley uses Ron as a pawn in her love match with Dwayne; Freddie tries historics and dramatics to get into a history class.

Freddie befriends an orphan and suggests the possibility of adopting the boy to Prof. Randolph.

Kim moves into high gear for practice med-school exam, While Whitley downshifts her spending.

Dwayne helps Whitley prepare for an academic competition, but one thing leads to another during a study session.

Dwayne, Whitley, and Freddie find themselves in a different dimension--"The Exam Zone".

Dwayne's mother walks in on a squabble between Kinu and the apartment's new maid - Whitley.

Dwayne and Whitley finally sit down and discuss their budding romance. Ron discovers that the homeless population is not what he thinks.

As Whitley and Dwayne get back together they start to study together and it affects them both different ways in their life academically.

Col. Taylor feels he's made a hole in one when asked to join the once segregated country club.

Whitley joins Dwayne in Brooklyn for his family's Christmas. However she runs into trouble with a crooked Santa while shopping for a gift for Dwayne's mother.

Dwayne's good friend Zelmer comes to visit Hillman and reveals to Dwayne that he's on route to military service in the Middle East. Blair Underwood guest stars.

Julian has a talk with Whitley that takes a toll on her ego--and may cost her Dwayne.

Lack of money may make Whitley's world come tumbling down after she blows her rent money.

Matthew brings members of the National theater of the Deaf to Walter's outreach center for a performance.

Kim is afraid that Matthew's involvement in his Drama Studies makes them an incompatible couple, but Matthew and the issues going on with Dwayne and Whitley soon prove it will be ok.

A student male of Hillman college who goes by the name of Shaza Zulu says that the Hillman men are "Dogs". Then one thing leads to another and the woman and men of Hillman are against each other while Shaza Zulu gets a profit out of it.

Whitley is forced to bunk with Dwayne and Ron for a while when Jalessa's sister comes to visit. Dwayne gets a job offer from konishiwa company where he spends his summers.

Whitley gets overly enthusiastic when bidding on art at an auction she attends for her internship. Freddie invents a new persona for her radio show.

When Walter arranges a telethon to raise extra money for the outreach center, the Hillman gang contributes by showcasing their various talents.

It's the time of year again when pledgers come to pledge, Ron is giving Terrance and the other pledges trouble while Whitley gives Kim and the other pledges trouble.

Whitley is going about her day when she finds a person who is a marvelous artist, but things go wrong when they are at an art gallery and someone disapproves of one of pieces of art.

Whitley is thinking about giving up her virginity to Dwayne, but she finds out one of her classmates has an STD and has second thoughts.

Ron begs a dean to let him take a course and Walter leaves Hillman.

Whitley decides to follow her boss who's being transferred to the New York office and Dwayne tries to cope with what that will mean for their relationship.

Dwayne and Whitley start their new lives together as an engaged couple. while they also have a new set for the dorm and welcome some new freshman.

Dwayne is under a lot of stress after being so over occupied while Jaleesa starts a new her own job at home.

Bickering distracts Whitley and Kim from a hazard in Lena's (Jada Pinkett) room.

Freddie takes a job as a receptionist and overhears one of her new superiors talking saying they are against affirmative action. Lena tries to get out of an English assignment by renting the movie instead.

As a hurricane batters the campus, Ron and Freddie confront their differences while trapped together.

Dwayne fails to foresee the consequences of his tutoring Lena (Jada Pinkett); Ron goes into the cosmetics business.

Kim's new-found arrogance loses her a spot in Ron's band; Col. Taylor frets over his age.

Whitley's wealthy cousin Liza (Jasmine Guy in a dual role) goes husband-hunting at Hillman.

Dwayne gets into hot water when he is spotted holding hands with a woman other than Whitley.

Dwayne and Whitley's parents both come together for their engagement party. When both mothers get into a heated exchange Dwayne and Whitley are going to an exchange as well when Dwayne gets cold feet but it is Whitley who calls off the engagement.

Airing eleven years after my Howard University dissertation trumped extant evidence disclaiming a gender neutral American culture, episode 11 from season 5 is the mother lode imitation of silk purse life from a sow's ear. The African Queen ending does nothing to obscure this producer's eurocentric bias toward aryan motherhood & his imprimatur that blacks embrace their own out-of-Africa evolution.

Whitley and Dwayne struggle with their first holiday apart. The Taylor Family is having a conflict of interest over Christmas traditions. Therapist, Dr. Langhorne advises everyone to holiday cheer.

Ron is forced to move out of his apartment after he spends the rent money pursuing his music career.

At a hotly contested Hillman-Virginia A&M game, Ron accepts a sucker bet from three white A&M students, then gets into a fight with them when one of them starts to spray a racial epithet on his car in revenge. In a cell, the men proceed to give very different accounts, mediated by a white officer who challenges both groups' assumptions.

Freddie's pen pal, Jamal, is an ex-con and he visits Hillman, where Whitley is drawn to him. Ron and Dwayne get involved and find an expensive camera and other items in Jamal's belongings and accuse him of stealing.

When Whitley is promoted at work, she is faced with sexual harassment by her new boss. Colonel Taylor is thrilled to learn Terrence has finally chosen a career, until he finds out it's dance.

Byron Douglas is impressed with Whitley's fund raising skills and asks her to help with his Senate campaign. Mr. Gaines has troubles with the lease at The Pit and Byron gets involved.

Whitley and Byron are getting serious, but Whitley still has feelings for Dwayne. They end up sleeping together when Dwayne arrives at Whitley's place to discuss their relationship. Kim finally goes out with Ron to a club but ends up leaving when every woman seems to have a past with Ron.

After Whitley and Dwayne spend the night together, they avoid speaking about their feelings. Charmaine and Lance visit Hillman.

Ron is intrigued by a female con artist. Kim fears she won't be accepted to medical school.

Lena is losing her engineering scholarship until she writes a moving story about her father, which later is proven to be fabricated. It earns her a journalism scholarship and brings her closer to her gambler father. Whitley jeopardizes Byron's fund raising when she wears a fur to an event.

Events take a tragic turn at the dorm when Lena suspects a rapper named Dion is abusing Gina.

Byron's opponent brings details of a stripper in Byron's past to light but Byron refuses to fight back, and just wants to discuss the issues. Byron wins the election and proposes to Whitley which upsets Dwayne. Jaleesa gives birth with the help of Kim and Freddie.

Whitley's wedding is fast approaching and Dwayne has convinced himself he can handle it, but he's unable to hide his sadness at the bachelor party.

Dwayne decides he's not going to Whitley's wedding. He gives her wedding present to Ron and asks him to take it to the ceremony.

Whitley and Dwayne recall their honeymoon in Los Angeles during the riots after the Rodney King verdict.

Whitley and Dwayne recall their honeymoon in Los Angeles during the riots after the Rodney King verdict.

Now living together for the first time, newlyweds Whitley and Dwayne clash over whose belongings they will use to furnish their apartment.

Everybody goes to court when one of the students is called a hoe.

Kimberly gets help from her new lab partner, Spencer, when she gets sick in anatomy class, and Dwayne pines for Whitley when she travels out of town.

Dwayne and Whitley struggle as Whitley gets laid off from her job.

In Dwayne's dream, Whitley is running for president against other women.

Whitley gets upset because Wayne does not spend enough time with her.

The Wayne and Gilbert family celebrate thanksgiving with each other.

Continuation of thanksgiving with the Gilbert-Wayne family.

Freddy gets juvenile delinquents who need a role model and they are assigned to teachers of Hillman College one of which is Dwayne.

Whitley borrows Dwayne's credit card without his knowledge to buy a new suit for a job interview and struggles to find a way to pay him back. Lena and Charmaine bond after Charmaine's boyfriend Lance dumps her over the phone.

Everybody's in for a big surprise when Freddy's mom comes to visit while Freddy also has some relationship trouble.

Whitley gets a new job as a teacher and struggles with her disrespectful students.

Dwayne throws Whitley a surprise party while two students of Hillman College cheat on a test and try to get away with it.

Ron and Mr. Gaines open a music club together, but can't agree on the style of music.

Whitley discovers she's pregnant; Dwayne's computer-baseball game is a hit with Kinlishewa Corp., which wants him to move to Tokyo.

A Japanese corporation woos Dwayne for his software; Whitley is pregnant.

Dwayne applies for a summer management position at a company in Japan and invites the VP over for dinner to woo him, but he and Whitely are in for a surprise when Dwayne's ex-girlfriend Kinu shows up, representing the company.

Whitley lets Dashawn stay with her and Dwayne for the weekend. Ron helps Freddie plan a charity dance-a-thon.

Dwayne and Whitley plan a romantic getaway for the weekend. When Mr. and Mrs. Gaines join them, things don't go as planned.

Terrell (Patrick Y. Malone) is caught with a handgun in the classroom; Spencer (Michael Ralph) proposes to Kim.