Forming Oppositional Social Concord to California’s Proposition 187 and Squelching Social Discord in the Vernacular Space of CHICLE Michelle A. Holling I examine the vernacular discourse of the CHICLE listserv, an academic site of inquiry that shifted its focus to operate as a site of opposition following California voters’ passage of Proposition 187, which aimed to restrict state services to undocumented immigrants. I identify the micro-level processes involved in forming a stance of opposition and reveal that a vernacular community’s discourse tends to mirror the hegemonic characteristics of the dominant discourses it opposes, a tendency reinforced by homogeneous identity and a need to respond in opposition to dominant discourses. I also examine the role of dissent, or discord, among listserv members. Keywords: Oppositional Social Concordance; Social Discord; Vernacular Discourse; California Proposition 187 Ten years ago, litigation was in process to contest the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 187. Passed by voters in the fall of 1994, the proposition would have barred California governmental agencies at the state and local levels from ‘‘providing non-emergency medical care, public assistance, social services, and education to undocumented immigrants.’’ 1 The irony of Proposition 187 is that it was legally unnecessary because undocumented immigrants already were ineligible to receive particular types of public assistance, such as Medicaid or Food Stamps; moreover, provisions of the proposition violated existing educational laws. 2 A United States Michelle A. Holling is Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Chicana/o Studies in the Department of Speech Communication and in the Center for Applied Studies in American Ethnicity at Colorado State University. The author thanks Lisa A. Flores and Cindy Griffin for their feedback on earlier versions of this essay as well as Robert Ivie and the two anonymous reviewers for careful readings and helpful suggestions. The initial version of this essay was presented at the Speech Communication Association Annual Convention, November 1995. Correspondence to: Michelle A. Holling, Colorado State University, Department of Speech Communication, 209A Eddy Hall., Fort Collins, CO 80523-1783, USA. Email: michelle.holling@Colostate.edu ISSN 1479-1420 (print)/ISSN 1479-4233 (online) # 2006 National Communication Association DOI: 10.1080/14791420600841369 Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies Vol. 3, No. 3, September 2006, pp. 202  222