Peter Gaehtgens is a German professor of physiology

Physiology

Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...

. In 1999, he became president of Free University of Berlin

Free University of Berlin

Freie Universität Berlin is one of the leading and most prestigious research universities in Germany and continental Europe. It distinguishes itself through its modern and international character. It is the largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on the...

 after winning the accorded elections against Gesine Schwan

Gesine Schwan

Gesine Schwan is a German political science professor and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. The party has nominated her twice as a candidate for the federal presidential elections. On 23 May 2004, she was defeated by the Christian Democrat and former president Horst Köhler...

 (the current candidate of the SPD

Social Democratic Party of Germany

The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

 for the German federal Presidency

President of Germany

The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...

). He stayed in this position until 2003, when he was elected president of the "German Rector's Conference" (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz). Gaethgens was a leading proponent of the country-wide introduction of tuition fees at German universities. It was for this reason that he was heavily criticized by the public.

Cake-smashing incident

On 2 November 2005, during the last year of his tenure, this criticism culminated in an attack by four protesting students who smashed two cakes in his face amid a plenary session at the University of Tübingen.