The family of former LSU leader Troy Middleton filed a lawsuit Monday against LSU requesting money for being labeled as a racist and seeking the return of his military collection, which is currently displayed at the LSU Military Museum, The Advocate reported. 

The Middleton family’s attorney Jill Craft said although the Middleton’s seek monetary recompense for “extreme humiliation and embarrassment,” the main objective of their lawsuit is to retrieve Troy Middleton’s papers and memorabilia. Craft said the family is not necessarily interested in punishing the LSU Board of Supervisors for removing his name from the library.

The Middleton family has come to LSU several times to collect the Middleton Collection, but LSU raised “several differing excuses” about why they couldn’t, according to the lawsuit. 

They plan to transfer the collection to the U.S. Army 45th Infantry Museum in Oklahoma City and formally asked for its return on Feb. 23. LSU responded April 14 saying the university would keep “approximately one-half” of the collection.

LSU Media Relations Director Ernie Ballard said as a state institution, the university is able to give back some parts of the collection, but other parts of the collection are historical government records for the university, the state of Louisiana and the federal government. The list of Middleton’s items is 26 pages long, including a bayonet from 1917, two bronze stars and a silver star.

LSU cannot find any form of paperwork concerning the collection, which was loaned to LSU by Troy Middleton himself in 1972, Craft said. She said the state can’t claim property without formalities.

The lawsuit was filed by Bingham Middleton Steward and Emily Middleton Serrano, both of Baton Rouge and Troy Houston Middleton of Mobile, Alabama.