I think, especially in a class where people seem to want to be editors or somehow involved in publication (which the class title seems to lead one to believe) there is a certain... persona these people might feel they and/or certain books will project. As if liking "classy" books equates being classy oneself. I'm sure these people probably do like many of the books mentioned but I also think it might be a case of wishing to appear a certain way that no one mentions less-than-"classy." Ironically, I would think liking diverse types of books would make you/the jobs you look at in the publishing world more diverse to. But then, who knows....?