On August 9, 2018, La Rotonde, the university's French-language newspaper, reported that the Ottawa Police Service was investigating members of the SFUO and its executive for fraud.

Due to fraud and embezzlement allegations, the University of Ottawa announced that it would terminate its agreement with SFUO.

[2][3] On September 25, 2018, the University of Ottawa provided the Federation with a 90-day notice of termination of their contract, citing insufficient progress and further allegations of workplace misconduct, internal conflict, and improper governance.

[5] Notable past presidents of the organization included Marcel Prud'homme (1958–59), André Ouellet (1959–60), Allan Rock (1969–70), Hugh Segal (1970–71), Denis Paradis (1974–75), Mauril Bélanger (1977–79), Anne McGrath (1979–80), Bernard Drainville (1984–85), Gilles Marchildon (1987–88), Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin (1990–91) and Guy Caron (1992–94).

[13] The Executive Committee (EXEC) manages the day-to-day operations of UOSU, with specific jurisdiction over human resources and signing contracts.

They include the Equity, Francophone Affairs, Student Life, Advocacy, Operations, and Communications Commissioners.

[21] The organization recognizes over 360 different clubs and associations related to all aspects of student life, from powerlifting to chess to politics.

[11] The SFUO, and subsequently the UOSU after it succeeded them, operates businesses and offers services that students and/or members of the public can access.

In 2019, uOttawa Students for Life (UOSFL), a club that advocated against abortion rights on campus, received provisional club status, giving them funding from UOSU and the right to book spaces on campus, sparking controversy.

[28] During the October 2023 by-elections, UOSU members voted to eliminate a tuition levy that funded CHUO-FM, a local campus radio station.

[23] On June 24, 2024, the Francophone Affairs Commissioner, Daphnée Veilleux-Michaud, held an emergency meeting open to the public regarding the proposed closure of the Bilingualism Centre.

Operations Commissioner Greg Coleman, who had written the budget with UOSU President Delphine Robitaille, was the only Board member to at the meeting other than Veilleux-Michaud.

[citation needed] After the emergency meeting, Francophone students who felt that the budget cuts unfairly targeted them joined the Francophone Affairs Commissioner in writing an open letter, which was published in La Rotonde, criticizing the proposal.

[34] Coincidentally, in The Fulcrum's article on the passage of the budget, an Anglophone Board of Directors member representing the Faculty of Social Sciences, James Adair, and the Operations Commissioner are pictured to the right of the President with Bike Co-op branded water bottles.

[23] After the passage of the budget, La Rotonde published an article criticizing the outcome, calling into question the May 1 salary increase of UOSU executives to $23 per hour, and again suggesting that the Bike Co-op should have been cut instead.

[35] Less than a week later on July 6, La Rotonde published another open letter to the UOSU President, insisting that the budget included cuts to the Feminist Resource Centre that constituted "anti-femenist intellectual harassment.