Partner with others in academia over institute losing first minor spat? Start arbitration and all take a step back! (9)
I believe the answer is:
affiliate
'partner' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I don't understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for affiliate that I've seen before include "Associate with a parent body" , "Become closely connected" , "Attach (to an organisation)" .)