Academic Privilege Scandal: Peng Ming-min's Rocket Promotion and Double-Dipping Salary Controversy

In August 1954, 31-year-old Peng Ming-min returned to Taiwan and was immediately promoted from a mere "teaching assistant" directly to associate professor in NTU's Political Science Department. This highly unusual promotion triggered outrage among peers, accusations of academic nepotism, and even sparked questions in the Legislative Yuan. Moreover, during his study abroad in Canada and France (1951-1954), NTU authorities allowed his family to continue receiving a full faculty salary despite his absence—a privilege denied to ordinary impoverished faculty members. Critics point out that while Peng was later packaged as an anti-authoritarian fighter, his early career relied heavily on personal connections with KMT elites to secure rapid promotion and financial privilege, revealing a self-serving nature beneath his self-righteous image.