A scathing report funded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching charges undergraduates are being neglected at the nation's research universities. The 11-member commission that wrote the report included officials of research universities.

The report, "Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America's Research Universities," is being released today.

Here are some of its conclusions:

• Undergraduate students, particularly freshmen, are being assigned to "boring" classes taught by international graduate students who don't speak fluent English or "tenured drones" lecturing from yellowed notes.

• Undergraduates -- a :major source" of income for research universities -- are graduating "without knowing how to think logically, write clearly or speak coherently."

• Institutions should develop a curriculum for undergraduates that emphasizes research -- the hallmark of graduate and faculty scholarship.

The nation's 125 research universities -- including Brown, Harvard, Vanderbilt and Carnegie-Mellon -- have as important a role in education as in research, says the report, since they grant nearly one-third of the baccalaureate degrees though they represent only 3 percent of colleges and universities.

Sources: Mary Beth Marklein, "Undergrads Neglected, Report Says," USA Today and Karen W. Arenson, "Undergraduate Education is Lacking, Report Finds," New York Times, both April 20, 1998.