The future of James M. Whitney, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts, remained uncertain at the end of he bizarre proceedings yesterday in Middlesex County Superior Court in Lowell.

Whitney faces charges of assault and battery and disturbing the peace for his alleged involvement in the disturbances which surrounded the trial of Cheyney C. Ryan on October 30.

Whitney was summoned to court only a week ago. The early date for the trial came as a surprise to Whitney, who had not expected the trial to come up until this summer.

He appeared in court at 10 a. m. with no lawyers or witnesses. District Attorney John J. Bowers was also present, but there were no witnesses for the prosecution. Judge Robert W. Scola-who commented during the morning that Harvard witnesses would be of no special value to a judge who had graduated from Yale-then told Whitney to call his lawyers, and said that the trial would begin at 2 p. m.

Out of Town

Whitney's lawyer, Harvey A. Silverglate, was out of town. One of Silverglate's associates, however, came to the courtroom. During the afternoon, it was decided that the proceedings would be continued at 10 a. m. this morning in a private meeting between the defense, the prosecution, the police and Scola.

Bowers said that the Commonwealth had been perfectly prepared to go on with the trial yesterday. He said that the purpose of today's meeting would be "to see whether there are any areas of agreement in this matter, and whether it might not be disposed of in a way that would be agreeable to both parties."

Bowers said that if a settlement can not be reached, a trial date will be set in the private meeting.

Yesterday's proceedings represented the beginning of Whitney's attempt to appeal a one-and-a-half-year prison sen-tence handed down by Judge Lawrence Feloney on December 3.

In that trial, Cambridge Police Captain Joseph Cusack testified that Whitney had struck him while trying to assist a girl who had been pushed to the floor. The defense presented 15 witnesses who testified that Whitney had not struck Cusack.

There were about 20 spectators at the courthouse during yesterday's proceedings, although sources close to Whitney said that in this case, they did not feel a large crowd of spectators would be helpful to the defense.