The problem of achieving a balanced ratio between minority faculty and minority students is discussed. Among the five difficulties seen as a result of failure to achieve a balanced faculty/student ratio are that minority students will suffer from lack of role models, counseling of minority students by sympathetic minority faculty will be more difficult to achieve, and innovation and the breaking of stereotypes will be hampered. It is contended that federally mandated affirmative action programs have largely failed to produce any of the desired results. An appeal to institutional and individual self-interest is proposed as a means to achieve a balanced minority ratio. It is suggested that once faculty members understand that the future of the programs and college units in which they work are threatened by failure to achieve a balanced ratio, motivation to bring about the necessary changes will emerge. The legitimacy of the minority status of a candidate as a factor in selection is proposed, and the Bakke case is seen as a precedent for the approach. (PHR)