As part of the nationwide NCAA Division III initiative, it is Special Olympics Weekend at the NCAA Division III women's basketball semifinal and championship rounds at Illinois Wesleyan's Shirk Center March 18-19.

In January 2011, the Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee initiated a partnership with Special Olympics in a coordinated community-outreach effort that incorporates the hundreds of SAACs at Division III schools and conference offices with the Special Olympics Programs that exist in each state.
The program is further designed to improve the lives of Special Olympics athletes through their involvement with Division III student-athletes and foster a mutual learning experience between Division III student-athletes and Special Olympics athletes.

On Friday night (March 18) at halftime of the first semifinal game between Christopher Newport (Va.) and Amherst (Mass.), two teams from the Bloomington-Normal Special Olympics and Recreation programs (SOAR Blue and SOAR Pink) will participate in an eight-minute exhibition game. (Jason Alsene, the son of IWU men's basketball public address announcer Ben Alsene and grandson of former IWU sports information director Ed Alsene, plays on the SOAR Blue team.)

At halftime of the Illinois Wesleyan/Washington U. semifinal game, the SOAR dance and cheerleading team will perform. (The coach of the cheer and dance team is Lauren Alsene, Jason's sister.)

On Saturday night, March 19, Special Olympic athletes will be a part of the game player Introductions and the presentation of the 26 state flags that represent the states with teams in the NCAA Dvision III tournament's initial field. The third place game will be a 4 p.m. with the championship slated for 7 p.m.