Cambridge University working to protect Latin poet (6)
I believe the answer is:
milton
'poet' is the definition.
(John Milton)
'cambridge university working to protect latin' is the wordplay.
'cambridge university' becomes 'MIT' (MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts).
'working' becomes 'on' (on can mean working or activated).
'to protect' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are held or protected).
'latin' becomes 'l'.
'mit'+'on'='miton'
'miton' going around 'l' is 'MILTON'.
(Other definitions for milton that I've seen before include "Blind poet of ` `Paradise Lost' '" , "English epic poet" , "Comus poet" , "and 24: Town in Bucks" , "English poet (Lycidas)" .)