The Columbia University is being sued by a group of Italian-American families for its failure to promote and preserve the Italian culture as intended by its original donors, reports Bloomberg.

According to the brief filed by the Italic Institute of America, a non-profit advocacy group, at the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, the La Casa Italiana's work is in stark contrast to the 'original intent' of the benefactors.

The brief goes on to say that the university's Italian department's initiatives are 'elitist and detached' and it fails to 'encompass any serious scholarship in Italian-American history, consciousness or concerns', reports The New York Post.

According to the Post, it appears that the group is especially furious and upset over a stereotypical and racial portrayal of Italians in the talk by the Columbia-U Professor and author Fred Gardaphe that was scheduled for La Casa Italiana last November titled, "What'ya Mean I'm Funny? Ball-Busting Humor and Italian American Masculinities."

La Casa Italiana, a building on Amsterdam Avenue has served as Columbia University's Italian department for decades. The building was established in 1920s by a group of Italian-Americans and Italian immigrants, who made $400,000 donation-- $5 million in today's worth-- to the Ivy-league University to support the building and also to establish two endowments.

But, according to a report by the New York Times, the department no longer exists in the building. About 20,000 volumes of donated books are not stored in the building anymore and are 'collecting dust in the basement of the Butler Library,' the brief by Italic institute says.

Some of the Italian-American families supporting the lawsuit are said to be the direct descendents of those who built the La Casa Italiana.

"What our forefathers did is going down the drain, never to be remembered," said Donna Raab, 68, to NY times, whose great-uncles helped build La Casa.

NY times report also claims that Columbia sought the help of Italian Government in 1991 in remodelling the building despite receiving generous grants from Italian immigrants over the years. The building now houses the university's Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America.

Columbia has declined to comment about the suit, citing the pending litigation.