Peter Gaehtgens

Peter Gaehtgens (born 1 September 1937 in Dresden) is a German professor of physiology. In 1999, he became president of Free University of Berlin after winning the accorded elections against Gesine Schwan (the current candidate of the SPD for the German federal Presidency). 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.

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.