It would be challenging to find someone on campus unaware of the humanitarian crisis currently plaguing European nations and those who lead them. As hundreds of thousands of refugees continue to pour across the borders of Austria, Hungary, and surrounding European nations, traveling in treacherous waters and the backs of cramped trucks, the United States too is pressed with dialogue about how to best accommodate the snowballing number of immigrants seeking asylum.

But American accommodation, a promised admittance to 10,000 asylum-seekers with only 2,000 admitted the prior year, pales in comparison to that of Germany. Germany, whose chancellor, Angela Merkel, has promised to take in 500,000 refugees over the next year, is leading the charge — perhaps the weight of historical refugee crises weighing heavy on the national conscience. Videos of German citizens welcoming Syrian refugees occupied the attention of the internet last week, even as dissonance churned in Germany about the chancellor’s announcement.

Reluctance and ineptitude when integrating immigrants in the United States isn’t exclusive to this particular refugee crisis. Maine itself, the most Caucasian state in the union, has struggled to accommodate and embrace its own immigrants for years, often clashing with the thousands of Somali migrants who’ve settled in and around the Lewiston area.

UMaine is not innocent when it comes to the alienation of immigrant populations and transfer students, either. Though valiant attempts have been made to create a sense of community on campus, and the intention is often good, improvements can always be made. Whether it be by admitting higher populations of international students or offering materials in languages other than English, a campus such as this one should be doing its best to create the safest space possible for students of all creeds, not settling for “good enough.” Unfortunately, that seems to be the attitude many students take when considering these students — and it shouldn’t be.

As conflict continues to build in areas of the world already predisposed to humanitarian turmoil, it’s important that more stable nations, from the Eurasian and African continents to the Americas, create responsible, inclusive and timely resolutions for the sake of those fleeing the horrors at home. Bureaucratic “business as usual” is simply not good enough for the families sitting in train stations with no knowledge of when they’ll finally reach safety, shelter and love.

But neither should these solutions not be on a strictly national level. It is the responsibility of all, even on a campus by campus basis, to create these programs and legislation. American government at every level is being outpaced and outperformed by the efforts of countries like Germany, when we should be leading the charge.

The time to act is now. The time to care is always.