msd, I couldn't read your original post because of its tiny font-size. You might find you get more interest if you use the standard settings in future.
When you have your novel professionally edited, does the editor also have the responsibility to verify copyright issues? For example, can the editor tell me that I can't use a particular university name? One of my fictitious characters is a professor at Harvard University.
As others have already pointed out, this isn't a copyright issue: it's a legal issue.
You can use the university's name: but if anything happens at that university which sets it in a negative light, or if there happens to be a real-life professor with the same name who you write about in a less-than-positive way, you're leaving yourself open to all sorts of legal actions.
Deb Harkness's debut novel, for example, is set at Oxford University and mentions all sorts of real-life buildings and institutions.
If copyright issues have nothing to do with the editor, is there someone I can employ for this job?
A specialist lawyer would be your best bet.
No, those are legal issues and they're not about copyright - they're about trademark and libel mostly. If you're planning to try to submit to trade publishers, they'd be the ones to deal with that. If you're self-publishing, I'd ask an atty.
Do I understand this correctly; I don't need to be excessively concerned about trademark and libel if I have my book published by a publishing company?
If your book is published with a trade publisher then your publisher should get all these issues checked over before it goes to print.
Your editor will highlight any potential issues during the editing process, and if they find anything which is deemed particularly worrisome they'll point it out and hand it over to their legal department.
Unless you're presenting your ms as non-fiction, or write about the institution or a person within it in a particularly negative light, you should be fine to send it out on submission without worry.
If, however, you plan to self-publish the book then you need to do all of these publisher-things yourself. So you need to hire a good editor, and once you have a final version you need to speak to a specialist attorney, who has specific experience in this area and a good record of success in working on such cases. An ordinary high-street lawyer is unlikely to be able to help you with this.