Alexander Would OK Minority Scholarships : Education: Cabinet nominee tells a Senate committee that a move to curb funding for such aid sends the wrong signal and should be rescinded.

The Bush Administration’s unexpected move last year to limit funding of college scholarships available only to minorities was a “false start” and should be rescinded, Lamar Alexander, the President’s choice to become education secretary, assured senators Wednesday.

Alexander, testifying before Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee members who will advise the full Senate on his confirmation, said that the controversial scholarship ruling “sent out exactly the wrong signal” to minorities and would be reconsidered once he takes office.

“Sometimes it’s not a good idea to turn over every rock that you find,” said Alexander, former governor of Tennessee and now president of the University of Tennessee. “I would start over. Sometimes it’s best to step back and admit you made a false start.”

Alexander’s qualifications for the Cabinet post were praised by committee Chairman Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and his confirmation seemed assured after three hours of friendly, low-key hearings. Alexander would replace Lauro F. Cavazos, who resigned under pressure and was considered by many lawmakers to be an ineffective education secretary.

The only abrasive note at Wednesday’s committee session was sounded by Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio), who indicated that he might seek another hearing to explore information contained in the financial disclosure statement submitted by Alexander.

Metzenbaum said that he was not prepared to discuss his concerns publicly. While not suggesting any wrongdoing, he told Alexander, “I have enough information that I might like to ask you about it later.”

“My financial records have been an open book in Tennessee for 15 years,” Alexander declared. He said that he is “ready, any time, in public” for further questions and invited Metzenbaum to pursue the matter at the hearing. Metzenbaum demurred, saying that his information came by way of “rumor” and that additional questions at Wednesday’s hearing would be “unfair.”

Metzenbaum’s office later said that the senator was referring to reports in Tennessee newspapers that Alexander, besides his salary as university president, also has received some $75,000 in directors’ fees from various companies. Metzenbaum said through an aide that he “in no way was casting aspersions” on Alexander, but wanted to reserve the right to ask further questions.

The race scholarship issue, which roiled the civil rights Establishment late last year and sent White House aides scurrying to clarify Administration policy, was the subject of Kennedy’s lead-off question to Alexander.

The controversy erupted when Michael L. Williams, assistant secretary of education for civil rights, wrote a Dec. 4 letter to Fiesta Bowl organizers warning that a plan to set up minority-only scholarships would jeopardize federal funding for participating universities.

Williams then announced at a Dec. 12 news conference that the Department of Education would withhold federal funds from institutions awarding race-exclusive scholarships, on grounds that such scholarships are discriminatory and in violation of civil rights laws.

The announcement caught the White House by surprise. President Bush was said to have been totally unaware of the policy change and virtually every established civil rights advocacy group launched a campaign to reverse the policy.

The move was partly rescinded on Dec. 18, when Williams announced that privately funded race-exclusive scholarships would be permissible but that federally funded ones would not. He also announced a four-year “transition period” during which the policy would not be enforced.

Responding to Kennedy’s opening question, Alexander said that--once he takes office as education secretary--”in the first two or three days I would announce we are starting over, and go back to Dec. 3,” the day before Williams wrote the initial letter.

In other action Wednesday, the committee unanimously approved the nomination of former U.S. Rep. Lynn Martin, an Illinois Republican, as secretary of labor.