Higher education institutions (HEIs) are under pressure to internationalize their campuses through increasing study abroad offerings and international student recruitment. The internationalization of higher education (HE) however, has mostly been theorized from a Euro-American perspective, often not taking into account actors in periphery contexts. This paper highlights the role of an emergent voice within the field that relies on its third mission to balance transnational pressures to internationalize and local demands for equity. Drawing on insights from a mixed-methodology case study at a historically disadvantaged public South African university, it is argued this institution's reliance on non-academic stakeholders within their internationalization decision-making processes, holds together these imperatives.