"Yes, but then you'd have to deal with monks," Strange complains a little, as he flips over a page and starts sketching a different rune in his little notebook. "My brother in law was part of the clergy. Religious men are a particular sort of intolerable that academics aren't."

Also, consider this: Strange likes showing off and wants to use those academic contacts to see if they're even still around and to see if anybody there has the slightest idea about what level of necromancy happened to them. Because Strange sure as hell doesn't and sure as hell wants to know the specifics.