Mr. Alphonse S. Naab, a former National Union of Ghana students (NUGS) President of University for Development Studies on Monday appealed to the public not to see actions of students in tertiary institutions to be rebellious and therefore a threat to society.
He said students and their leadership had complementary roles to play with their management and it is only when students are sidelined in negotiations that they use other accepted means of negotiations such as demonstrations and boycotts that are negatively portrayed as rebellious.
Mr. Naab said this when he showed to the media a trophy he recently won as the "best Male student leader for 2008."
He said despite the hardships he went through as a leader he was rewarded because he stood firm to defend the students who had placed him there and called on other student leaders to seek non-violent negotiations with their management as the best way of seeking redress to their challenges.
The former UDS leader said he was able during his tenure of office to set up an ICT centre, improved furniture and resolved petty squabbles that existed between staff and students.
Mr. Naab dedicated the award to his mother and students of UDS for their support for him and his colleagues during their term of office and appealed to students not to use violence to achieve objectives.