[chrishajer]

I have a 1.0.2 installation and the forum_description call looks like this by default:

<?php forum_description( array( 'before' => '<small> – ', 'after' => '</small>' ) ); ?>

Did you try modifying that array to send before and after nothing?

<?php forum_description( array( 'before' => '', 'after' => '' ) ); ?>

Worked for me, on the front page. Or are you looking to modify something else? This modified the forums listed in #forumlist at the bottom of the front page.