However, low attendance from elected members, particularly from the medical school, led to the executive assuming more responsibilities over time.

The Student Commons, which opened in 2021.The union operates under the governance of a Board of Directors, which consists of elected representatives from the federated and constituent colleges, as well as professional faculties within the university.

These services include the UTSU Food Bank, funding and resources for UTSU-recognized clubs, as well as a Student Aid Program that provides bursaries to cover various expenses such as transit, accessibility-related costs, and textbooks.

In November 2002, UTSU members participated in a vote regarding their membership in the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS).

[10] During the 2017 UTSU elections, the Demand Better slate, which advocated for leaving the CFS, achieved victory in most of the executive positions, including the presidency.

Students have faced challenges in balancing part-time employment with their studies due to the inability to reduce their course load under this fee system.

The flat fee structure has also added financial burdens for students, exacerbating concerns about mental health.

The UTSU also engaged at the provincial level through the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, advocating for changes to the fee-collection model and raising awareness among students across the province.

In 2013, the UTSU intensified its campaign by collecting over 6,000 postcard petitions from students, urging the government to take action on flat fees.

Under the new policy, full tuition fees can only be charged if students are enrolled in an 80% course load or higher.

[14] The UTSU has also been actively involved in other advocacy efforts, including opposing the University's license agreement with Access Copyright, securing rights for unpaid interns, eliminating the need for work permits for international students, promoting open-source software, addressing ancillary fees, establishing multi-faith space, achieving a bottled water-free campus, ensuring student access to athletic space, advocating for a student Metropass, obtaining national grants, establishing childcare facilities at the University of Toronto Mississauga, advocating for a tuition fee freeze, promoting a sweatshop-free campus, divesting from South African apartheid, establishing the Centre for Women & Trans People, and securing undergrad access to Robarts Library.

One early instance of criticism arose from SAC's policy, established in 1926, of refraining from involvement in political issues to maintain campus unity.

Some of these criticisms have been raised by members of provincial and federal political parties, including both the Liberals and Conservatives, who have questioned the democratic legitimacy of UTSU.

Vice President Sam Rahimi (2004–2005) has stated that he was asked multiple times to participate in election campaigns at Ryerson and York Universities and that he and other student leaders from S.A.C.

2008 threats of legal action The UTSU has been involved in controversies where they have faced accusations of suppressing dissenting voices from students who hold different views than the union.

The protest was a response to contentious excerpts from Warren Farrell's publications and comments he made about incest in a 1977 Penthouse interview.

The referendums sought to redirect fees directly to their respective college- or faculty-based student societies instead of paying them to the union.