Gives rise to lawsuits involving university (6)
I believe the answer is:
causes
'gives rise to' is the definition.
('cause' can be a synonym of 'give rise to')
'lawsuits involving university' is the wordplay.
'lawsuits' becomes 'cases' ('case' can be a synonym of 'lawsuit').
'involving' is an insertion indicator.
'university' becomes 'u'.
'cases' enclosing 'u' is 'CAUSES'.
(Other definitions for causes that I've seen before include "Reasons why things happen" , "They bring about effects" , "They give rise to effects" , "Gives rise to -- crusades" , "Factors" .)