The University of Massachusetts (UMass) at Amherst faculty, in protest of its new contract, cancelled classes yesterday in order to conduct a "conference on the state of the university," UMass officials said yesterday. UMass police said about 100 students and faculty attended the conference.

University officials would not comment on the faculty's complaints, but issued a statement saying they "will take appropriate legal action."

Meanwhile, the UMass at Boston faculty has staged pickets at the president's office in Boston for nearly a week in protest of the same contract.

The controversial contract was approved by Gov. Michael S. Dukakis on June 30, the last day of the state's fiscal year. The agreement guarantees the UMass faculty a 20-per-cent pay hike over the next three years--the first salary raise that faculty has had in five years.

However, the faculty's union representatives said the new pay raise does not include librarians and part-time faculty. The faculty also wants some voice in determining whose salaries are increased, the union representative said.

Under its present contract, faculty members are granted pay increases commensurate with "merit points," which are assigned to each professor by the university administration on the basis of a faculty member's academic performance and output, the union representative said.

Union officials said the faculty will continue with job action protests, but will not go out on strike. State law prohibits the faculty from striking