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This paper offers a Derridean framework for reflecting on what “being alternative” means, and, more precisely, how it operates. Asking the question, What are the processes through which an organization is constituted as an alternative?, we examine the communicative practices of differentiation in a particular organizational setting. We use empirical material taken from the case study of UPop, an alternative university in Montreal, Canada. Our study shows that “the alternative” is constituted through movements of differentiation, which oscillate between being against and not being like.