Sen. Rand Paul’s charm offensive to minority communities took him to Howard University on Wednesday, where the historically black school’s students met him with skepticism and the occasional jeer.

The Kentucky Republican’s political forays since the 2012 elections have fueled his recent rise to conservative rockstardom, from his foreign policy appeal to neoconservatives at The Heritage Foundation in February to a well-received speech at last month’s Conservative Political Action Conference.

But Howard is not CPAC, and both Paul and the audience appeared highly conscious Wednesday of the ideological and racial gap between the two venues.

As Paul suggested that Republicans, more so than Democrats, have historically been on the side of equality for blacks, two Howard students bounded to the front of the room and hoisted a white tarp with the words “Howard University does not support white supremacy” painted on it. They were immediately seized by campus police and dragged into a scuffle off to the side.

“For him to come to [historically black colleges and universities] and … try to tell them about their own history, my history, I think it’s ridiculous,” said Brian Menifee, a senior mechanical engineering major who held the sign on behalf of the liberal campus group Political Education Action Committee.