Reason for university being involved in lawsuit (5)
I believe the answer is:
cause
'reason' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'university being involved in lawsuit' is the wordplay.
'university' becomes 'u'.
'being involved in' indicates putting letters inside.
'lawsuit' becomes 'case' ('case' can be a synonym of 'lawsuit').
'u' inserted into 'case' is 'CAUSE'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for cause that I've seen before include "It brings about an effect" , "Produce (an effect)" , "Make happen; something deserving support" , "why some people fight" , "Give rise to" .)