Mar 12, 2010 8:54:43 AM

The Midwest Conference's student-athlete advisory committee recently sponsored a campaign on each of the league's 10 campuses to stamp out derogatory use of "the R word" – retarded – and its harmful effect on people with intellectual disabilities.

Inspired by remarks by a Special Olympian during the SAAC's meeting last fall, the student-athletes agreed to seek pledges on their campuses to participate in the conference's R-Word Challenge.

The effort is an expansion of the six-year relationship that the Midwest Conference already had with Special Olympics. During a recent two-week period, the league's campus SAAC groups gathered more than 1,200 pledges via the www.R-Word.org Web site.

Conference SAAC members agreed in November to conduct the campaign after hearing a presentation from a Special Olympian who discussed the R-word campaign, her personal experiences and the wounding effects of derogatory language.

Student-athletes at Beloit won the challenge by collecting 300 pledges from a campus population of less than 1,400 students, but SAAC members say the real objective was to spread awareness.

"We didn't focus on the competition," said Tess Jacquez, a softball and volleyball student-athlete at Beloit. "Instead it became about informing people about the R-Word campaign."

The campus SAACs were able to encourage more than 15 percent of enrolled students at Midwest Conference schools to pledge support at the Web site.

"I'm proud of our student-athletes' responses to the challenge and congratulate the Beloit student-athlete advisory committee on their efforts to support the Special Olympics athletes during this important ini­tiative," says Chris Graham, Midwest Conference commissioner.

The conference awarded $250 to the Beloit SAAC for its efforts, during a ceremony featuring Graham, student-athletes and representatives of Special Olympics.

Every Midwest Conference campus SAAC participates in regional and local Special Olympics activities through the year, ranging from field days for Special Olympics athletes to Polar Plunge fund-raising events.

"Working with the Special Olympics has truly been a wonderful and rewarding experience," said Midwest Conference SAAC chair Brie Oehlke, a softball student-athlete at St. Norbert who wore a shirt encouraging fans present at the Beloit R-Word Campaign ceremony to "spread the word to end the word."

"I think the MWC athletes have had just as much fun, if not more, participating in athletic events with the Special Olympics athletes," she said.