He faces four counts of rape, sexual battery and two counts of gross sexual imposition, according to court records, and is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Friday morning.
Wittenberg’s athletics website lists Sullivan as a baseball player on the 2015 team.
Sullivan isn’t on campus now, said Sgt. Jeff Flores with the Springfield Police Division, which investigated the sexual assaults.
Wittenberg leaders declined to comment on whether Sullivan was still a student or the outcome of an internal school investigation into the sexual assaults, citing federal student privacy laws.
But school leaders said they have ramped up efforts to prevent sexual assaults at the university in recent years, including talking to students about reporting the crimes.
“We take any report very seriously,” said Casey Gill, dean of students at Wittenberg.
The school is working to change the image of sexual assaults, she said, and educate students on what can be done to stop it.
“Creating a campus community and climate where students feel empowered to report, to prevent, to not just be passive bystanders when they witness incidents that could lead to something very serious happening on campus,” Gill said.
When a sexual assault is reported to the school, Gill said officials immediately evaluate the claims and take action against the person accused of the crime.
Depending on the allegations that could mean an interim suspension from school until an internal investigation is complete, she said.
If an internal investigation shows a student violated the student code of conduct, depending on the violation, a student could be dismissed from the university.
“Non-consensual sexual intercourse would lead to dismissal,” Gill said.
Wittenberg works to respond to and complete these investigations within 60 days of the time a report is filed, Gill said, under guidelines from the Office of Civil Rights.
Wittenberg has been scrutinized by federal offices for its responses to alleged sexual assaults in the past. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has been investigating claims since 2011 that Wittenberg officials violated Title IX by failing to adequately respond to a student’s report of sexual assault.
Those complaints allege the university, “discriminated against the student on the basis of sex. Specifically, the complaint alleges that the university failed to respond appropriately when the student reported that she was sexually assaulted.”
Students who report sexual assaults to the school can choose to report the crimes to police, Gill said.
“We provide them information on how to file criminal charges should they want to go that route,” she said.
Three victims in the case against Sullivan — all students at Wittenberg — reported the crimes, Flores said. Springfield detectives started investigating the crimes in mid-March, he added.
This week’s indictment says the assaults happened in 2015 between Aug. 13 and 24 and Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, and then on March 17 of this year. The sexual assaults happened both in on-campus and off-campus housing, Flores said.
Students on campus Tuesday were shocked at the charges against a fellow Wittenberg classmate.
“It’s absolutely crazy that something like that happened here,” said Christian Babbyak, a junior studying music education.
Other students said the school openly educates students about sexual assaults on college campuses.
Anthony Corsi, a senior studying biology and communications, said his fraternity has hosted two sexual assault seminars this semester.
“It goes to show that no matter the campus size, sexual assaults still do occur,” Corsi said.
Freshman Megan Mong said residence hall leaders talk to new students about sexual assault and that she feels safe on campus.
“This makes me really sad because I don’t think it’s a huge problem at Witt,” Mong said about the news of the crimes Tuesday.
Wittenberg recently received $57,500 in state grant money as part of the Office of Higher Education’s Changing Campus Culture initiative, Gill said.
That money will go toward the university’s efforts to expand its intervention and support services as well as expand educational initiatives to stop violence.
About the Author