A referendum may be called by the Student Officer Committee, by the Union Council, or by a petition of 500 members (1/30 of the membership).

Recent campaigns have included actions on free education for all, transport and a change to the graduation venue.

In December 2010, the Union Council decided that The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail and would now only be sold under the counter in Union owned shops in response to their name and shame campaign of seemingly random students at the Millbank Student Protests.

Although ultimately unsuccessful, the campaign saw hundreds of students end demonstrations, fundraisers and rallies against the closure.

[3] In late 2013, the union council voted to hold a campus-wide referendum asking students whether they wanted Blurred Lines banned from campus.

This is in spite of 1,000 students signing a petition in support of the campaign, 95 academics signing an open letter calling for divestment and a series of high-profile stunts and actions organised by the Student Union and the Fossil Free campaign group.

In addition to this, a key function of the Union is to be an independent expert voice of students, and as such provides and supports representation of its members on University Committees.

The university Sportspark provides facilities for UEA Sports Clubs in line with its Community Usage agreement.

All clubs and Societies are run by elected students, and have a committee that will at least consist of a president, secretary, treasurer and Union Council Representative.

The Union operates many of the services open to all members of the university community and the general public on the university campus in Norwich including: It was announced during August 2020 that the ShopSU, UNIO, and food sales at BarSU would be taken over by UEA management in exchange for a bailout loan.

The UEA Students' Union was given a red rating by Spiked in its recent "free speech" rankings[5] of universities.

The publication accused the SU of having banned and actively censored ideas and free speech on campus.

Instances cited include the cancellation of a meeting with a UKIP candidate,[6] the removal of clothing that was seen by the SU as contravening their stance on cultural appropriation[7] as well as the boycotting of various newspapers.