If no one is bothering to keep these pinned threads current, then NONE should be pinned. Specially with this new design, most of the opening page is now occupied by prior-year discussion threads that ought to be CLOSED, not pinned!
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/barnard-college/
I was thinking the same thing. Probably cause they’re the most popular
They recently changed it so you can delete the pin:
I tried it and it works! So thankful to remove all those unnecessary threads (to me) that forced me to scroll and scroll to get to new content.
No - they are NOT the most popular - I checked, and there are others that have more posts and/or more views. So some “moderator” decided to make those “featured” threads.
Also, I tried the “cog wheel”, and it does NOT remove those featured threads from the top of the screen.
Just making sure - am I the ONLY one whose browser is hijacked by those unwanted “featured” threads on the Barndard page - or is this a reproducable problem?
Yes, you are the only one. 
If refreshing the page does not work, log out and log back in.
There is a difference between the “featured” threads and the “pinned” threads. Your initial post did not specifically state you were referring to the featured threads. But for all of the pinned threads, the directions I pasted above should work to remove them from the top of your page.
Edited to add - I just clicked on your link to the Barnard page and do not see any featured threads at all. It looked like there was just one “pinned” thread at the top for the incoming 2023 class.
Phew - yes, thanks to everyone. Logging off/on did finally get rid off those old featured threads, indeed.
Thank you to who-ever figured this one out. Makes this board usable again. Between the “generous” abuse of my screen estate with that new “spacious” layout, and in addition having to work my way past those old featured threads every time, I was ready to throw in the towel.